The Cambridge History Of Latin American Law In Global Perspective

This book aims to evaluate the contribution of Latin America to the development of international law at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This contemporary approach to international adjudication includes the historical contribution of the region to the development of international law through the emergence of international jurisdictions, as well as the procedural and material contribution of the cases submitted by or against Latin American states to the ICJ to the development of international law. The project then conceives international jurisdictions from a multifunctional perspective, which encompasses the Court as both an instrument of the parties and an organ of a value-based international community. This shows how Latin American states have become increasingly committed to the peaceful settlement of disputes and to the promotion of international law through adjudication. It culminates with an expansion of the traditional understanding of the function of the ICJ by Latin American states, including an analysis of existing challenges in the region. The book will be of interest to all those interested in international dispute resolution, including academic libraries, the judiciary, practitioners in international law, government institutions, academics, and students alike.

Covering the precolonial period to the present, The Cambridge History of Latin American Law in Global Perspective provides a comprehensive overview of Latin American law, revealing the vast commonalities and differences within the continent as well as entanglements with countries around the world. Bringing together experts from across the Americas and Europe, this innovative treatment of Latin American law explains how law operated in different historical settings, introduces a wide variety of sources of legal knowledge, and focuses on law as a social practice. It sheds light on topics such as the history of indigenous peoples' laws, the significance of religion in law, Latin American independences, national constitutions and codifications, human rights, dictatorships, transitional justice and legal pluralism, and a broad panorama of key aspects of the history of statehood and law. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Enth.: Bd. 1-2: Colonial Latin America ; Bd. 3: From Independence to c. 1870 ; Bd. 4-5: c. 1870 to 1930 ; Bd. 6-10: Latin America since 1930 ; Bd. 11: Bibliographical essays.

This comprehensive volume offers fresh insights on Latin American and Caribbean law before European contact, during the colonial and early republican eras and up to the present. It considers the history of legal education, the legal profession, Indigenous legal history, and the legal history concerning Africans and African Americans, other enslaved peoples, women, immigrants, peasants, and workers. This book also examines the various legal frameworks concerning land and other property, commerce and business, labor, crime, marriage, family and domestic conflicts, the church, the welfare state, constitutional law and rights, and legal pluralism. It serves as a current introduction for those new to the field and provides in-depth interpretations, discussions, and bibliographies for those already familiar with the region’s legal history. Contributors are: Diego Acosta, Alejandro Agüero, Sarah C. Chambers, Robert J. Cottrol, Oscar Cruz Barney, Mariana Dias Paes, Tamar Herzog, Marta Lorente Sariñena, M.C. Mirow, Jerome G. Offner, Brian Owensby, Juan Manuel Palacio, Agustín Parise, Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo, Heikki Pihlajamäki, Susan Elizabeth Ramírez, Timo H. Schaefer, William Suárez-Potts, Victor M. Uribe-Uran, Cristián Villalonga, Alex Wisnoski, and Eduardo Zimmermann.

International law has played a crucial role in the construction of imperial projects. Yet within the growing field of studies about the history of international law and empire, scholars have seldom considered this complicit relationship in the Americas. The Hidden History of International Law in the Americas offers the first exploration of the deployment of international law for the legitimization of U.S. ascendancy as an informal empire in Latin America. This book explores the intellectual history of a distinctive idea of American international law in the Americas, focusing principally on the evolution of the American Institute of International Law (AIIL). This organization was created by U.S. and Chilean jurists James Brown Scott and Alejandro Alvarez in Washington D.C. for the construction, development, and codification of international law across the Americas. Juan Pablo Scarfi examines the debates sparked by the AIIL over American international law, intervention and non-intervention, Pan-Americanism, the codification of public and private international law and the nature and scope of the Monroe Doctrine, as well as the international legal thought of Scott, Alvarez, and a number of jurists, diplomats, politicians, and intellectuals from the Americas. Professor Scarfi argues that American international law, as advanced primarily by the AIIL, was driven by a U.S.-led imperial aspiration of civilizing Latin America through the promotion of the international rule of law. By providing a convincing critical account of the legal and historical foundations of the Inter-American System, this book will stimulate debate among international lawyers, IR scholars, political scientists, and intellectual historians.

This casebook uniquely compares the law of Latin America to that of Europe, as well as the United States while introducing students to the richness and diversity of the Latin American legal tradition through cases, legal documents, and commentaries. This carefully designed book allows students to see the law in action and guides them through entire judicial decisions, demonstrating how litigation unfolds and how a different legal culture operates. It is currently the only cases and materials publication devoted to Latin American law and the issues that arise in concrete litigation south of the border.

"M.C. Mirow has set himself a difficult task, to contribute a one-volume introduction to Latin American law in English, and he has succeeded admirably." —Law and History Review "The impressive scope of this book makes it a major contribution to Latin American legal history. . . . This is an excellent starting place for anyone interested in the legal history of the region, and it is essential reading for those seeking to understand the roots of contemporary Latin American politics and society." —Lauren Benton, New York University, author of Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 1400-1900 Private law touches every aspect of people's daily lives—landholding, inheritance, private property, marriage and family relations, contracts, employment, and business dealings—and the court records and legal documents produced under private law are a rich source of information for anyone researching social, political, economic, or environmental history. But to utilize these records fully, researchers need a fundamental understanding of how private law and legal institutions functioned in the place and time period under study. This book offers the first comprehensive introduction in either English or Spanish to private law in Spanish Latin America from the colonial period to the present. M. C. Mirow organizes the book into three substantial sections that describe private law and legal institutions in the colonial period, the independence era and nineteenth century, and the twentieth century. Each section begins with an introduction to the nature and function of private law during the period and discusses such topics as legal education and lawyers, legal sources, courts, land, inheritance, commercial law, family law, and personal status. Each section also presents themes of special interest during its respective time period, including slavery, Indian status, codification, land reform, and development and globalization.