Recopilación de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias

The code of the Spanish Indies, first printed at Madrid by Julián de Paredes in 1681 in four volumes and nine books, and still being reprinted by order of the Council of the Indies in 1791. Its distinguishing feature is the margin: every law is printed beside the monarch, place and date of the order it consolidates, which makes the compilation an audit trail of its own empire — including of the provisions that had to be issued over and over.