Women asking for justice: criminal proceedings in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (Century XVIII)

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to analyze and to show some singular and peculiar characteristics in the ways of administering justice in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in the late eighteenth century. I present here three domestic violence processes that have two specific characteristics: extreme celerity in their processing and the exercise of judges' discretion not only in the course of procedural steps, but also in the sentences. These procedures were based on a way of understanding the juridical world, typical of the Modern Age and that went far beyond the simple application of the law, having as decisive elements for the own administration of justice the equity, the mercy and the right, the latter being understood, in fact, as fair or adequate by the judges.