The seven games. Selection

The Siete Partidas are a Castilian normative body, during the reign of Alfonso X (1252-1284), with the aim of achieving a certain legal uniformity of the Kingdom.
Its original name was Book of Laws, and by the fourteenth century it received its current name, for the sections in which it is divided.
The Seven Headings consist as their name suggests of seven proper headings, each containing its respective laws.
This edition is a selection of passages from the original book, made by Antonio Solalinde, in modern Spanish. In Linkgua Ediciones we have also published the full text in its original version.

Game One

Title 1. What about the Laws
At the service of God and for the communal of all we make this book because those who read it find in it all things fulfilled and certain to take advantage of them, and we distribute in titles, which means as much as the sum of the reasons that are shown and in these reasons things are shown fulfilledly as they are and by the understanding they have are called laws. The ladino people call laws to the beliefs that men have, and they would take care that those of this book did not speak but of those, therefore, to remove them from this doubt, we will make them understand what laws these are.

Law 1
To establish how men are to believe and keep the faith of Jesus Christ, as it is, and how they know how to live with one another well and orderly according to the pleasure of God and others, according to the life of this world, living in right and justice.

Law 2
Ius naturale means in romance as a natural right men and even other animals have in themselves with senses. Otrosí ius gentium in Latin means as a right common to all, which suits men and not other animals because men could not live among themselves in peace, but use it, because this right each man knows his own and the fields and the terms of the villas are distributed to him. And another is all men to praise God and obey their fathers and mothers and their land, which in Latin is called homeland. And another does consent to this right that each one can protect himself against those that he dishonors or forces would like to do. And even more, everything he does to defend himself from the force they want to do against his person, let it be understood that he does it with right.

Law 3
The laws are one in terms of law, in two ways they are distributed in terms of reason; the one is in favor of souls, the other is in favor of bodies; religious belief and the good life: and of each we will say how they should be done; And by these two the whole world is governed, both have prize and lesson according to the merit of the facts. For this reason we send to put in this book both the reward for good, and the lesson for evil.

Fragment of the work