AUSTIN, Texas – A new online exhibit from the Tarlton Law Library at The University of Texas School of Law describes the sophisticated legal systems of the Aztec and Maya civilizations. Entitled "Law in Mexico Before the Conquest," the exhibit may be viewed at http://www.law.utexas.edu/rare/aztec/Home.htm.
The exhibit uses the words and pictures of native chroniclers to illustrate and explain Aztec courts, standards of evidence, judicial conduct, criminal law, and other aspects of Aztec and Maya law.
The Spanish conquistadors found not only empires and cities in Mexico to rival those of Europe, but also highly developed legal systems. The penalties exacted by Aztec 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. The descriptions of good and bad attorneys, told and illustrated in the 16th century by Aztec informants in Fray Bernardino de Sahagun's landmark "History of the Things of New Spain", still sound familiar today:
"The good attorney ... is discreet, able, astute, diligent, constant, unflagging, sharp-tongued, contentious, wrangling, ingenious, persevering, audacious, unyielding, persistent, dignified, solicitous, careful of things.... He collects tribute ... He consumes a tenth of it -- he draws recompense. The bad attorney [is] one who takes things from others by fraud. [He is] a persistent beggar, an excessively importunate one ... He is a hypocrite -- lazy, lukewarm, negligent, deceiving, two-faced, inconstant, squandering, dumb, mute."
In addition, an annotated bibliography, "Resources on Aztec and Maya Law" is available at http://www.law.utexas.edu/rare/aztec.htm. The bibliography, long one of the most visited pages on the Tarlton Law Library's website, is newly updated and more than tripled in size.
The exhibit was researched and written by Mike Widener, Head of Special Collections at the Tarlton Law Library. The web design was by Eric Glass, Reserve Room Supervisor, before his departure to become Serials Librarian at the Columbia Law School Library.