Abstract

VILLEGAS DEL CASTILLO, Catalina. From the home to the courts: family lawsuits before the Real Audiencia (Royal Audiency) of Santafé at the end of the colonial period (1800-1809). hist.crit. [online]. 2006, n.31, pp.101-120. ISSN 0121-1617.

The law is an important source for the historic reconstruction of the family. Colombian historiography has tried to develop this kind of analysis under the premise that it is possible to identify the morality, customs and dominant institutions of the period in question, as well interpret the changes and transformations of historic processes, from the reigning norms of the period studied. These studies have brought to light the situation of women, mothers and wives in a country marked by a strong patriarchal tradition. This article, by contrast, studies the relationship between the family and the State through an examination of court cases. These sources complement the purely formal analysis, in that they allow us to identity how mothers, spouses and children used the dominant religious, moral, political and legal norms in order to defend their interests within the legal process. The court cases also helped establish the dominant models of women and men that judges of the era appealed to and defended in their judicial decisions. This article is based on an examination of lawsuits regarding food claims and opposition-to-marriage trials contained in the collection of Asuntos Civiles (Civil Matters), in the Colonial section of the Archivo General de la Nación.

Keywords : Court cases; practices; tactics; strategies; food; opposition-to-marriage.

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