Innovations in the Old Regime’s Legal System Due to Legal Practices and Institutional Adjustments Performed in the Idolatry Extirpators in Lima During the 17th Century

Abstract

During the 17th century, idolatry extirpators, that were itinerary courts, purpose of which was to watch over the pureness of faith, and to prosecute and penalize the Indians suspected and liable for apostasy, were performed in the diocese of Lima. However, since this institution was meant for the native people, the colonial authorities had to reformulate its proceedings and punitive system due to the special ethnographic, social, political and cultural aspects of the Andean peoples, as well as due to the influence of the indigenous protector statute, that had to be respected by the colonial agents. The aforementioned entailed a series of modifications to the inquisitorial process, to the punishment and defense system that resulted in fissures, reinterpretations and resignifications among the Colonial agents regarding the order and Criminal Law of the Old Regime which gave rise to a criminal process that can be labeled as proto-modernizing.