Title:

Autos formados a virtud de pedimiento de Don Baltasar de Arechavala, sobre que se le venda, o arriende media cavalleria de tierra contigua a su Hacienda de los Morales, cita en Egidos de esta Ciudad: Mexico City, Mexico, 1773-1774

Creator/Contributor:

Arechaval, Baltasar de.

A series of court papers, addressed to the Royal Audiencia in Mexico City, which sum up a case presented by Sr. Arechavala, who identifies himself as a merchant of the city. He is seeking to sell off or rent a portion, a "cavalleria" (about 35 acres), of his property adjacent to his hacienda of San Juan de los Morales because it is not of any use to him. He gives a full description of the piece of land, and notes that it is crossed by both the roads to Chapultepec and Tacuba and the arroyo of San Cosme, all main thoroughfares of the city, which render the lot useless. He complains that the traffic, both of men and beasts, have destroyed his crops. Following this two page request to the court there are several other documents, from officers of the court, giving a history of the property together with the replies of Sr. Arechavala. The court (Oidores or perhaps a lower court) goes into some detail, as the ownership of the land had been in dispute for some 40 years before Arechavala acquired it. The main issues is that the "vecinos" or neighbors were accustomed to use the land as common pasture, and had resisted efforts by previous owners to sell or rent it out, at one time to a tile factory, at another to an "asistenta de polvora," which, from context, seems to mean a contractor of building materials like sand and adobe. The land is referred to as an Ejido, a word that does not technically exist in the colonial period, as it was an Aztec custom, which may point to it being a commons for surrounding communities. It seems that the court ruled in favor of the commons, and forbids Arechavala from interfering or charging rent. Written by Arechavala and other hands.

Date:

1773 (issued)

Subject:

n-mx---

Commons -- Mexico -- Mexico City

Court records -- Mexico -- Mexico City

Tribunaux -- Dossiers -- Mexique -- Mexico

Commons

Court records

Polanco (Mexico City, Mexico)

Mexico -- Mexico City

Mexico -- Mexico City -- Polanco

Arechaval, Baltasar de

Title from first page.

On sealed paper. Last leaf blank.

Purchase; From Plaza Books; 20140407.

Preferred citation: Autos formados a virtud de pedimiento de Don Baltasar de Arechavala, sobre que se le venda, o arriende media cavalleria de tierra contigua a su Hacienda de los Morales, cita en Egidos de esta Ciudad : Mexico City, Mexico, 1773-1774, BANC MSS 2014/15, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

In Spanish.

Type:

legal instruments.

Legal documents.

print

1 (30

Spanish

Origin:

Mexico