Overseas jurisdictions. The construction of the early modern Portuguese overseas judicial apparatus

Abstract

This paper analyses the construction of a judicial apparatus at a pluri-continental scale. Focusing on the network of crown-appointed jurisdictions of royal law, the analysis questions its fundamental characteristics, stressing its European matrix and its adaptation to local circumstances, in a background of political and legal pluralism that explains the different range and intensity of its implementation. The text sets out a timeline and maps the expansion and growth of this apparatus at the same time as it analyses the creation of new jurisdictions and questions its apparent monolithic character.