From castilian to nahuatl, or from nahuatl to castilian? Reflections and doubts about legal translation in the writings of judge Alonso de Zorita (1512

Egío García, José Luis2026-02-052026-02-052016Egío García, José Luis, "From Castilian to Nahuatl, or from Nahuatl to Castilian? Reﬂections and Doubts about Legal Translation in the Writings of Judge Alonso de Zorita (1512–1585?)", Rechtsgeschichte – Legal History Rg 24 (2016), 122-153,1619-499310.12946/rg24/122-153https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/131555This article examines the reﬂections on legal translation set out in two Relaciones written by the 16th century Spanish jurist Alonso de Zorita. These serve as excellent illustrations for the creative dimension motivating several of the proposals for the adaptation of Castilian law to native legal custom in the Americas. My analysis focuses on some of the linguistic issues implied by Zorita’s proposal for the restoration of an idealized pre-Hispanic polity: the use of the native pictorial legal sources, and it considers some of the issues and dilemmas related to their proper interpretation and translation.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/From castilian to nahuatl, or from nahuatl to castilian? Reflections and doubts about legal translation in the writings of judge Alonso de Zorita (1512–1585?)journal article2195-9617https://doi.org/10.12946/rg24/122-153https://rg.lhlt.mpg.de/index.php/rg/article/view/654https://produccioncientifica.ucm.es/documentos/697b2de79e41074a91302436open access34(091)(72)"15"94(72).02Cultural translationLegal conceptsAlonso de ZoritaPre-Hispanic polity16th century AmericaNew SpainFilosofíaHumanidadesHistoria modernaHistoria del Derecho72 Filosofía5504.04-1 Historia Moderna. Área Americana5506.12 Historia del Derecho y de las Instituciones Jurídicas