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Exhibit title: Law in Mexico Before the Conquest

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Link to home page Link to page, Common Themes Link to page, Warfare Link to page, Tribute Link to page, Aztec Courts Link to page, Aztec Attorneys Link to page, Aztec Property Law Link to page, Aztec Family Law Link to page, Aztec Law and Drunkenness Link to page, Aztec Law of Slavery Link to page, Maya Law Link to page, Sources for this exhibit Link to page, Links to Related Resources  

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Punishment

Capital punishment was common in Aztec penal law: strangulation, stoning, and beating were its most common forms. Other penalties included exile, Criminals being executed by stangulation, beating and stoning before Aztec officials confiscation of property, destruction of one's home, public humiliation, or stern lectures. Restitution was a common element in the sentences for minor thefts, frauds, or personal injuries, sometimes by making the offender the slave of the victim. Nobles or priests were usually singled out for harsher penalties.

Judgment and punishment of malefactors (right) (Historia de ... Nueva España).

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If the ruler knew something ill of some nobleman—although he were a great prince, or brave warrior—if he had committed adultery, then he sentenced him to be stoned before the people, to die stoned.

—Florentine Codex, Eighth Book, Fourteenth Chapter