Abused Women and a Clash of Courts: Judicial Responses to Violence against Women in Southern Peru (1780-1845)

Belan C. · Memoria y Civilizacion (2026) · DOI: 10.15581/001.29.1.015

Resumen

Historically, violence against women has been enabled by the perpetuation of certain social discourses and institutional trends. The role of the judiciary in normalizing abuse―through deliberate omission and the relativization of grievances against victims―remains a pending subject of analysis in Peru and Latin America. Thus, employing the methodology of the culturalist turn and the framework of "European legal culture" within the study of legal history, we will analyze the prevailing judicial criteria in cases of violence against women, including both mistreatment and homicide, using a comparative perspective between the two jurisdictions that handled these cases: the civil and the ecclesiastical. To this end, we will examine over 150 cases tried between 1780 and 1845 in southern Peru. The research highlights the conflict and contrasting criteria between the jurisdictions responsible for adjudicating incidents of violence against women.

Instituciones: Universidad Católica de Santa María