‘Memoria de los libros que son necesarios para pasar’ Sixteenth-Century Jurists Readings in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

The Modos de pasar en Derechos (ways of ‘passing’ laws) consisted of a type of study guide, which contained moral prescriptions and practical advice about the books, the authorities, the subjects, the order, and the time required to prepare for academic examinations. These study guides were especially designed to instruct candidates in obtaining the licentiate degree in Salamanca, the so-called licentia docendi in both civil and canon law. They also offer a rich source for the history of legal education in the early modern Iberian Peninsula. Moreover, the Modos de pasar functioned as tools for the selfrepresentation to the public of an image of academic excellence and distinction, which was of immense importance for the process of elite formation. The social group formed by tenured professors (catedráticos), licentiates, and doctors in law struggled to enhance their privileges in a period of conflict and institutional change in the old University of Salamanca. In this article, I propose to analyze these study guides as a specific legal-pedagogical genre within the broader spectrum of early modern juridical literature. The features of this corpus of texts can be clearly displayed in the Modo de pasar del doctor Diego Enrríquez (1587), one of the most remarkable examples of this genre, since it includes a comprehensive list of suggested readings for law students (Memoria de los libros que son necesarios para pasar). An edition of this manuscript (Modo de pasar del doctor Diego Enrríquez, 1587, Biblioteca Histórica Marqués de Valdecilla, Universidad Complutense de Madrid: Mss. 206, fols. 259v-262r) is added as an appendix.