Based on a wide array of local-level Spanish and Nahuatl documentation and an intensive analysis of seventy-three lawsuits over property involving Indians resident in Tenochtitlan/Mexico City that were heard by the Real Audiencia between 1536 and 1700, this work clearly shows that legal documentation offers important clues to underlying cultural assumptions, attitudes and perceptions.

While most colonial "Aztec" studies have focused on macro-level structural changes, this book brings a highly empirical focus to everyday life. This clearly written, even-handed treatment of the late pre-Hispanic and early colonial periods will be of interest to students of colonialism, law, gender, and social theory as well as to historical and anthropological specialists in pre-Hispanic and colonial Mesoamerica.