Promulgation of the New Laws of the Indies

Timeline

1. 1542Barcelona · SpainThe emperor issued the Leyes Nuevas by decree, prohibiting the creation of new encomiendas in newly conquered lands, restricting the hereditary transmission of existing encomiendas, and stipulating Indigenous freedom and judicial protection, applicable across the jurisdictions of Spanish America.
2. 1542–1545Spanish America · Spanish coloniesAfter the new laws reached the various colonial audiencias, they provoked strong backlash from encomenderos and local elites, with armed protests arising in Peru and elsewhere, prompting the crown to subsequently make compromising revisions to some provisions.