Note 1 — Law II
Reading edition
The earliest compilation of laws regarding the Spanish colonies of Nueva España was made, by royal command, by Vasco de Puga (an auditor of the Audiencia of Mexico), and printed in 1563. Francisco de Toledo, viceroy of Peru from 1569 to 1581, prepared a code of ordinances for that country (see Markham’s Hist. Peru, pp. 149, 156–159, 538). In 1570, Felipe II ordered that a revised compilation of the laws and ordinances for the government Page 28nof all the Indias be made. After many efforts and delays, this was accomplished in 1628, but the work was not printed until 1681. It is the fifth edition (i.e., reprint) of this compilation from which we obtain the laws presented in this document; it was printed in Madrid in 1841.