NEW LAWS OF THE INDIES FOR THE GOOD TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF THE INDIANS

All Historical

Governors had an obligation to take care of the well-being and preserve Native Americans (referred to as Indians by the law).

  1. That there was no motive to enslave them in the future, not by war, nor due to rebellion, nor to ask for a rescue, nor for any reason or in any way.
  2. That native Americans currently enslaved must be freed immediately, unless the owner could prove (in Spain, which implied travelling back there) the full juridical legitimacy of such a state.
  3. That the 'bad habit' of making Native Americans work as slaves against their will or without fair payment must be ended immediately.
  4. That they must not be taken to remote regions to fish for pearls.
  5. That only the viceroy had the right to establish encomiendas on Native Americans. The prohibition to establish encomiendas included all religious orders, hospitals, commonalities, and civil servants.
  6. That the "distribution" (of people and lands) given to the original conquerors (as a feudal lordship of sorts) should stop immediately after their death, and both land and the native people would become subject to the Crown.