Avoiding Tithes with Indigenous Labor in Colonial Mexico

MEXICO. INDIGENOUS LABOR. Lopez Torrija, Carlos.

El Dr. y Maestro Don Carlos Lopez Torrija Abogado de la Real Audiencia de Mexico de Esta Nueva España... Hago Saver a Todos los Fieles Christianos de Qualquier Estado o Condicion Que Sean Dueños de Haziendas de Labor... [caption title and first line of text].

Puebla de los Angeles: [Diego Fernandez de Leon], 1687.

Price: $2,800.00

Broadside. 43 x 31 cm.

Very fine and untrimmed. Light horizontal fold.

This 17th c. Mexican edict restricted Spanish landowners from leasing, donating, or otherwise transferring their tithe-bearing estates to Indigenous peoples (“terrazgueros”) or other exempt persons in an effort to avoid paying tithes to the Church. Spanish landowners were transferring property to shift or avoid their tithe liability in schemes that defrauded the church of their lawful revenue. The edict required landowners to declare under oath all contracts or permissions that they have entered into, under penalty of excommunication and up to 50 pesos.

In 17th c. Mexico, Indigenous populations faced severe exploitation through forced labor and tribute systems. The Spanish demanded labor for their enterprises, while the Indigenous were forced to contribute tribute in the form of goods or labor, even in the face of dwindling resources. Terrazgueros were Indigenous tenants or dependent land users who held or cultivated land in return for “terrazgo” - a rent, due, or obligation associated with the use of land.

The promulgator of this edict, Carlos Lopez Torrija, lawyer of the Real Audiencia of Mexico was charged with regulating practices whereby Spanish landowners transferred land to Indigenous peoples to avoid tithe obligations to the Church. The edict reveals social and economic tensions between colonial landowners, terrazgueros, and the Church, exposing a system of indirect exploitation that allowed landowners to benefit from Indigenous agricultural labor while evading the tithe. The broadside is a revealing artifact of colonial power dynamics and ecclesiastical influence in New Spain.

The relevance of these arrangements for Torrija was not tribute in the strict sense, but the question of whether agricultural production on Spanish-owned, tithe-bearing lands could escape the Church’s “diezmo” (a compulsory ecclesiastical tithe) when those lands were leased, transferred, or permitted to be worked by Indigenous or otherwise privileged persons. There is a summary of provisions at the bottom of the edict:

“EDICT ordering the Spaniards who are owners of working estates, ranches, working lands, and small plots, who make leases, donations, or sales to Indians or privileged persons, not to do so without the charge and obligation of paying the tithes; and ordering them to appear before the Collectors to declare under oath the persons, times, and lands that they have thus contracted or permitted, under penalty of major excommunication and of fifty pesos of common gold for Spaniards and twenty-five for those who are not Spaniards.”

This edict was prompted by a formal complaint brought by Francisco Pardo, legal representative for Puebla Cathedral, who argued that Spanish landowners were claiming exemption from tithe obligations because they had leased or permitted the cultivation of tithe-bearing lands by Indians or other privileged persons. As a result, the Church was defrauded of its lawful income. The Royal Audiencia of Mexico upheld the ecclesiastical judge’s authority to require payment of tithes on such lands, even when they had been transferred.

In response to that decision, López Torrija issued this edict ordering all owners of working estates, ranches, and tithe-paying lands to declare before the Church's Collectors the persons, times, and lands involved in any such contracts or arrangements. He further prohibits any transfer of tithe-bearing lands to mortmain or privileged holders unless the full tithe obligation is explicitly preserved. Penalties for non-compliance are severe: major excommunication and fines of 50 gold pesos for Spaniards and 25 for non-Spaniards. The document closes by commissioning curates, vicars, and ecclesiastical judges throughout the bishopric to have the edict read, published, and posted.

The edict illuminates the complex intersection of ecclesiastical finance, colonial land tenure, and the legal status of indigenous peoples in late seventeenth-century New Spain. The terrazguero system, in which agricultural laborers worked on a rented parcel or as a sharecropper, created persistent ambiguities about fiscal and spiritual obligations that the Church struggled to resolve against a civil legal framework that did not always support its claims. The bishopric of Puebla, one of the wealthiest in New Spain, had particular reason to police its tithe income.

The promulgator of this edict, Carlos López Torrija, was a lawyer of the Real Audiencia of Mexico, the highest tribunal of the Spanish Crown in New Spain. The Real Audiencia acted not only as a judicial body but also had important administrative and political functions. It advised viceroys, helped enforce royal law, heard disputes involving officials and communities, and could act as governing bodies in certain circumstances.

Not in Medina. Three copies traced in the U.S.: Alabama, JCB, and Texas A&M.