The local and illiterate justice of decimononic Chile (1817-1875): The case of the "manual or instruction for the sub-delegates and inspectors in Chile"

Abstract

The article examines the Manual or Instruction for Subdelegates and Inspectors in Chile, aimed to instruct and control the local and illiterate justice in nineteenthcentury Chile. The first section details some aspects of judicial organization between 1817 and 1875, a time when elements of the Spanish colonial law coexist with those of the incipient republican legal order. Special emphasis is placed on the sub-delegates and inspectors, as well as matters related to the appointment and control of these judges. In relation to this last point, in the second section, the text already referred is studied, especially its editions, legal and extra-legal motivations, as well as its content. It is argued that the success or failure of the Manual is something that is still debatable, a matter that does not prevent affirming the State's concern to control and reformulate local judicial practice, often separated from the legalism that was intended to be implemented.