Siete Partidas

Timeline

1. 1256–1265Toledo · CastileAlfonso X convened jurists who compiled the Book of Laws in Castilian based on Roman law, canon law, and Iberian custom, later organized into seven parts and titled the Siete Partidas.
2. 1265–1348Cities of Castile · CastileThe code first circulated as a royal scholarly and educational text rather than immediately replacing local charters in full. Manuscripts spread among universities and court jurists, laying the groundwork for its later formal status as supplementary law.
3. 1348Alcalá de Henares · CastileAlfonso XI issued the decree of Alcalá, providing that the Siete Partidas apply where charters and new royal laws are silent, transforming it from a scholarly compilation into a formal source of Castilian law.
4. c. 1500–1889Spanish America · Latin AmericaColonial courts widely cited the Siete Partidas alongside Indian law and royal ordinances. After Spain and the Latin American republics enacted civil codes in the 19th century, its status as a direct source of law ended, but it remains a core text of legal history and comparative law.