El control de escribanos públicos en la Corona castellana: un juicio de residencia en la tierra de Sevilla (1570)

Abstract

Since the middle Ages, in Castille, the work performed by public officers was regularly supervised in order to guarantee that they were fulfilling their obligation faithfully and according to the law. For this, the Crown employed different instruments, which evolved along the years. This paper analyses one of these instruments, the juicio de residencia, focusing on the public scribes working on the sevillian hinterland during the second half of the XVIth Century. Through the official documentation generated by the residencia judge, we will determine how these public officers applied the current legislation.