Inspired by the visual allegory ("Conquista, embarcáronse a las Indias" fol. 73 of the Nueva corónica), Legnani contends that the development of the laws of peoples (jus gentium) by 16th century Spanish jurists should be analyzed within the corpus of commercial law (lex mercatoria) employed by sea merchants, bankers and mercenaries throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. This dissertation explores the movement from figure to fiction in discourses of capital and violence.
