A shared professional space: networks of colonial lawyers in Cuba and Mexico (1508–1832)

Abstract

During the colonial period, legal professionals from Mexico and Cuba maintained a closed relationship. Legal experts arrived in America to join the colonial establishment, but excessive litigiousness among settlers forced the Crown to forbid lawyers from overseas. However, it became increasingly necessary for functionaries to hold law degrees to occupy municipal positions, and thus, Spain created colonial universities. Cuban students increasingly studied law in Mexico and, upon graduation, joined the professional network across the Spanish Empire. The foundation of the University of Havana in 1728 further strengthened the intellectual connections between Cuba and Mexico. In 1760, Mexican elites created a Colegio de Abogados with strict membership requirements based on lineage, race, and class, and lawyers in Havana submitted a petition to open their own Colegio in 1812 to preserve the exclusivity of the legal professions.