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"Thou has fallen into the claws, thou has entered the mouth of a wild beast; thou has stirred up justice." With these words an Aztec ruler admonished his subjects to walk the straight and narrow. Just as the Spaniards found empires and cities in Mexico to rival those of Europe, so also they found highly developed legal systems. The penalties exacted by the indigenous courts seemed quite severe to the Spaniards, yet their reliance on evidence, the promptness of their rulings, and their high standards of conduct were much admired.
Law in Mexico Before the Conquest was originally prepared by Michael Widener (Head of Special Collections, Jamail Center for Legal Research) for exhibition in the atrium of The University of Texas School of Law in Fall 1992, in connection with the Columbus Quincentenary. The web adaptation of the exhibit was prepared by Eric Glass, the Jamail Center's Reserve Room Supervisor, in Spring 2003. Thanks to Emma Molina Widener for extensive research and design assistance, and to Jane Garner and Michael Hironymous of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin, for their assistance with the illustrations.
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