Indigenous custom as law in the Indies

A law of 1555, printed as libro II título I ley iiij of the Recopilación, orders that the laws and good customs the Indians had anciently for their government be kept and executed — while conditioning them on Christianity and on the crown's own code, and reserving the right to add. Título XV binds the Audiencias to decide Indian suits summarily "guardando sus usos y costumbres, no siendo claramente injustos", leaving to Spanish judges which customs were clearly unjust.