NEW LAWS OF THE INDIES FOR THE GOOD TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF THE INDIANS
All HistoricalGovernors had an obligation to take care of the well-being and preserve Native Americans (referred to as Indians by the law).
- 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.
- 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.
- That the 'bad habit' of making Native Americans work as slaves against their will or without fair payment must be ended immediately.
- That they must not be taken to remote regions to fish for pearls.
- 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.
- 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.