Christopher Albi

This essay offers a fresh perspective on the Bourbon reform process in colonial Mexico in the late-eighteenth century. By focusing on the role of Francisco Xavier Gamboa, a creole jurist of Basque descent, the author of a celebrated 1761 analysis of mining law, and an audiencia judge from 1764 to 1794, it reveals the importance of both legal ideas and transatlantic social networks in shaping opposition to reforms that sought to fortify central authority in Spanish America. Gamboa was part of a wealthy transatlantic network of Basques. The Basque merchants of Mexico City supported his career and influenced him ideologically. He espoused a conservative legal philosophy, defending Derecho Indiano, or the old legal order of Spanish America, and especially the traditional broad authority of the audiencia, the highest court of ordinary jurisdiction. This position, which set him at odds with the reformers in Madrid, reflected both the success of his social circle under the old regime and its devotion to the principle of local autonomy. This essay contributes to the ongoing effort to reassess the Spanish colonial legal system and understand its role in preserving Spanish sovereignty over an immense and complicated American empire for almost three centuries.

[WP #1002]