Based on the theory of law as literature, this article examines the Laws of Burgos of 1512 as a legal fiction. Using James Boyd White"™s rhetorical criticism of law, I compare the denotative and connotative languages in the Laws of Burgos to understand how the law of the letter and the letter of the law work in this document. A poetic reading of the ordinances of Burgos brings out the contradiction between the model of justice of Spanish law and colonial society in Latin America.
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