Martínez Marina and the “ensayo histórico-crítico sobre la antigua legislación de León y Castilla”

Abstract

Opening the way to a better understanding of native law in the eighteenth century with general and special works devoted to the major texts, the critical edition of the Partidas by the Academy of History in 1807 marked the formal entry of Spanish historical science into the European Illustration. A year later, Martinez Marina historical-critical essay on the old Castilian law and on the Siete Partidas allowed the spread the values of the Enlightenment, such as civil liberty, property, and knowledge of public law, attaching them to Alfonso X's encyclopaedic wisdom.