EL DEBATE SOBRE LA LICITUD DE LOS SERVICIOS PERSONALES DE LOS INDIOS Y LA LEGISLACIÓN LABORAL DE 1601-1604

Abstract

In 1587, fed up with the agreements to prohibit the compulsion of Indians to work and to humiliate them with illicit personal services, the Dominican friar Juan Ramirez left Mexico and went to the king’s court to demand face to face that forced personal services be suspended. Until 1596 he was writing and gathering opinions in favor of his cause. He joined the demands against the repartimientos in Mexico with those against the mitas and forced labor of the Indians in the Andes. He denounced the lukewarmness of the council-ors to hasten legislation in accordance with what the theologians and experts suggested, until in 1597 a board was formed that was to absolve the causes of conscience that the Dominican and his companions put on the table. As a result of long deliberations, the Council gave birth to a series of considerations that reformed in considerable depth the systems of indigenous labor in the American kingdoms. These were included in the great cedula on personal services of 1601. This document was never fully applied due to the difficulties that the Indian authorities argued put at risk the royal treasury and that of the individuals. This situation led to consultations and the evacuation of diverse opinions that enriched the American labor legislation. A second reform was necessary, with the 1609 decree that moderated the restrictions on compulsory labor of 1601. These were the foundations of later colonial labor legislation.