New Laws

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The New Laws (Spanish: Leyes Nuevas), also known as the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians^[1] were issued on November 20, 1542, by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (King Charles I of Spain) and regard the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Following denunciations and calls for reform from individuals such as the Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, these laws were intended to prevent the exploitation and mistreatment of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by the encomenderos, by limiting their power and dominion over groups of natives.^[2]

Blasco Núñez Vela, the first Viceroy of Peru, enforced the New Laws. He was opposed by a revolt of encomenderos and was killed in 1546 by the landowning faction led by Gonzalo Pizarro. Pizarro wanted to maintain a political structure built upon the Incan model the Spanish found in place. Although the New Laws were only partly successful, due to the opposition of colonists, they did result in the liberation of thousands of indigenous workers, who had been held in a state of semi-slavery.