“Between Confidence and Arms”. Local Justice in Ecuador from the Old Regime to Liberalism

Abstract

This essay deals with the administration of justice, and especially local justice, in Ecuador between the Old Regime and Liberalism. It claims that the judicial problems suffered by citizens during the first republican decades were the consequence of three major factors: 1) the role of colonial municipalities as legal and governmental institutions at the same time; 2) the character of Cadiz liberalism –and more generally Hispanic liberalism–, which did not change the idea of justice, confirming the legal nature of municipalities and furthermore increasing their number in the territory; 3) the role of the wars of independence and the transformation of many local judges into militiamen. Thus, from a model based on confidence in personal qualities, local justice changed toward a model based on arms.