, Ms. - Ondegardo, Rel. Prim.
et Seg., Mss. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 2, cap.
11-14. - Montesinos, Mem. Antiguas, Ms., lib. 2, cap. 6.
The accounts of the Peruvian tribunals by the early authorities
are very meagre and unsatisfactory. Even the lively imagination
of Garcilasso has failed to supply the blank.]
The laws were few and exceedingly severe. They related almost
wholly to criminal matters. Few other laws were needed by a
people who had no money, little trade, and hardly any thing that
could be called fixed property. The crimes of theft, adultery,
and murder were all capital; though it was wisely provided that
some extenuating circumstances might be allowed to mitigate the
punishment. *8 Blasphemy against the Sun, and malediction of the
Inca, - offences, indeed, of the same complexion, - were also
punished with death. Removing landmarks, turning the water away
from a neighbour's land into one's own, burning a house, were all
severely punished. To burn a bridge was death. The Inca allowed
no obstacle to those facilities of communication so essential to
the maintenance of public order. A rebellious city or province
was laid waste, and its inhabitants exterminated. Rebellion
against the "Child of the Sun" was the greatest of all crimes. *9
[Footnote 8: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Herrera, Hist. General,
dec. 5, lib. 4, cap 3.
Theft was punished less severely, if the offender had been really
guilty of it to supply the necessities of life.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76