Spanish colonial law escalated punishments for escaped slaves to death

Evidence

The response of the representatives of the Spanish state was unequivocal. Between 1571 and 1574, royal decrees detailed new systems of control and surveillance, stipulating progressively harsher treatment of fugitives: 50 lashes for four days absence; 100 lashes and iron fetters for more than eight days absence; death for those missing for six months, commuted in some cases to castration. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 652

Categorization

• QUESTION: The commutation of death to castration for escapees is a striking detail — worth checking whether castration served a labor-preservation or punitive logic in other colonies.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 652
• XREF: connects to: Spanish Mexico faced widespread slave insurrections in the 1500s; Spanish repression failed to halt the spread of slave revolts; Colonial rule operates by suspending judicial order — Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics, 79

Broader Connections

• Spanish repression failed to halt the spread of slave revolts #qualifies (0.65)
• Spanish Mexico faced widespread slave insurrections in the 1500s #complicates (0.60)