Maya Law: History, Legislation of the Maya, Law and Mayan Crimes

He Mayan right it was the system of laws that the Mayan civilization used during its more than 2000 years of existence. There are relatively few historical records of the way in which the laws for this civilization worked, because the Spaniards destroyed the records during the Conquest.

However, modern anthropological studies have managed to understand certain fundamental characteristics of the Mayan legal system, which are reinforced by aboriginal authorship texts dating from the time of the Conquest. It is believed that the civilization of the Maya is older than the Aztec.

For two millennia of existence, a complicated society developed with its own beliefs, rules, education, economy and legislative system. These laws were different from the European ones, and the Mayan civilization gave a name to its legislative system: Tlamelahuacachinaliztli, which means"justice; straighten what is crooked."

History

The Mayan civilization existed for two millennia before the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. They expanded throughout Central America and it is believed that they had contact with the civilizations that inhabited the northern part of Mesoamerica through commercial relationships.

Very little was known about the way in which the Maya lived until relatively recently, thanks to the progress that has been made in deciphering the hieroglyphics and drawings that date from that time.

The history of the Mayans and their historical advance never followed a definite path. With the passing of time, many of their cities advanced technologically and grew, then collapsed and repeated the process again. The influence of each city for civilization also varied depending on the historical epoch.

However, the period that expands from the year 250 to the 900 of the current era was the most prosperous for this civilization. They were ruled by leaders of dynasties, which allowed a fairly rich population, cultural and artistic growth, which profoundly favored civilization.

When the Spaniards arrived in Central America, the Mayan states had a much lower level of organization than they had once achieved, with decentralized cities and a lack of direction.

Mayan legislation

The laws of the Maya were approved by the halach uinic , or supreme leader. In case there is no one at the time, the city council was in charge of doing it. The local heads of the villages were responsible for enforcing the laws.

The laws were not limited to criminal law, there were laws for all areas of life in the Mayan civilization. For example, family laws dictated that women should marry at 16 or 17 years of age and it was a tradition that the couple was chosen by a third party.

By law, parents had to educate their children. However, the children lived together in local dormitories and returned home to work with their parents.

The Mayans also legislated property rights, and the systems resembled those used at the time of the colony in America. The nobles had lands where the less well off worked, and the latter had small plots where they lived.

Wars also had their laws. The head of civilization had a military leader at his side with whom he made decisions in battles. During the war, the local chiefs had to send troops from their villages to fight against other civilizations.

Law

Maya law was exercised quite strictly. It is known that they did not have jails, and the crimes were punished severely, depending on their seriousness.

One of the reasons why it is so complicated to know with certainty how the Mayas acted in their judgments is the lack of written material in these. The trials were carried out in public and there was no information about them on paper or stone.

All the witnesses were forced to swear the truth of their testimony and, according to some historical records, it is valid to believe that there were people who acted in a similar way to the lawyers of today. However, it is not known with certainty if this was the case.

The trial was carried out by the same local chief of the village or locality in which the trial took place. It was he who evaluated the events, determined whether there was intentionality or not at the time the action was committed and, based on this, exercised a punishment relevant to the accused.

Mayan crimes

Under the legal system of the Maya, crimes were punished with severe severity. Murder, rape, incest, arson and acts that were considered to offend the gods, were punished with death.

However, it is important to note that the legal system of the Mayans took into account acts that were not intentional. In case of defining a murder as intentional, the murderer was sentenced to death, but if the act he committed was not deliberate, he was made to sell a slave to the injured family or provide some property.

The robberies were punished forcing the thief to return what he took and even through temporary slavery. If the thief or person tried died before serving a sentence, his family inherited it and had to fulfill it for the deceased.

The homes were protected from the perpetrators, since it was not customary to use doors in this civilization. Anyone who entered a foreign home to cause harm was punished by death. In the same way, the nobles were treated with special severity in the sentences.

Exceptions and pardons

Mayan legislation allowed anyone who was convicted of a crime to receive the forgiveness of the injured party. For example, adultery was considered a crime for the Maya. If the man who committed it came to be forgiven by the wife's husband, he was spared death and assigned another punishment.

This also worked like that with the killers. If the family of the murdered one forgave the thief, he had to pay his crime for restitution (granting the injured family some good) and his life was spared.

References

1. Maya Law, Talrton Law Library of Texas, (n.d.). Taken from utexas.edu
2. Ancient Laws - Mayan Law, Beacon Hill Institute, (n.d.). Taken from beaconhill.edu.hk
3. Law and Justice in the Mayan and Aztec Empires (2,600 BC-1,500 AD), Duhaime Online, (n.d.). Taken from duhaime.org
4. Legal Systems Very Different from Ours, David Friedman, November 5, 2013. Taken from daviddfriedman.com
5. Government of the Maya, History on the Net, (n.d.). Taken from historyonthenet.com