Freedom of indigenous marriage in the Laws of the Indies (libro VI, título IX)

A law of 1618, compiled into the code of the Indies, strips an encomendero of his encomienda if he obstructs the marriage of any Indian man or woman held in it, and orders parish priests not to marry couples an owner brings in without first finding out whether the women come frightened or in full liberty. It sits in a title whose other laws forbid him to live in the town, keep Indian women in his house, run an obraje there or send anyone to the mines.