Slavery and the slave trade in relation to the Spanish penal code of 1822. Notes for its study

Abstract

In addition to being the first to be approved, the Spanish penal code of 1822 marks the beginning of the end of slavery as it had been historically understood in the Hispanic Monarchy. With a very disparate presence in the European and American domains, and, within these, between the continental ones and the Caribbean islands, this odious institution continued to be governed by the old code of Partidas, without subsequent rules, few and casuistic, minimally altering this regulation. Historiography, as well as contemporary authors, considered that it was a regime very far removed from that of Rome itself and that of the colonies of other European powers and that, at the end of the 18th century, it attempted to improve itself, even further, in favor of enslaved subjects. On the contrary, trata negrera was greatly revitalized, now carried out by Spanish companies, some directed by Catalan operators, as shown by court records following the request for freedom filed by Andrés, supposedly originally from Madagascar.