Divine Order and Republican Order: a Dispute over the Sources of Law

Abstract

This article attempts to present local responses to processes of political and legal centralization led by the governing elite in Colombia during the process of emancipation against Spanish rule that extended through the first half of the 19th century. To do this, a case is analyzed, the legal process started by a senior official of the State against a secular clergyman who, through flyers, religious preaching, and “assaults” on the lessons of the principles of law taught in the Colegios Mayores tries to impede the modernizing project being carried out by the ruling elite. There are two principle focuses in this analysis: first, the methods of discipline and social homogenization used by the elite in the process of constructing a collective, governing body; and second, the discussions about the content of studies on jurisprudence, which were central to the efforts of nationalization and rationalization of justice during the transition period from colony to republic.