I simboli del potere nobiliare: diritti di precedenza nella Spagna moderna (secc. XVII - XVIII). Casi di conflitti giurisdizionali tra episcopato e aristocrazia

Through the analysis of the court records relating to a judicial dispute concerning matters of precedence – the main figures in which were the duke of Arcos and the Corregidor of Villagarcia opposed to the bishop of Badajoz – a reflection is proposed on the dynamics related to the conflict between competing powers in the territory for the control of local resources and on the methods of intervention by central power. Dynamics favoured by the lack of a certain juridical regulation that provided the occasion for a private use of jurisdiction. In this context, a fundamental role was played by the practice of call-back pro cedure by the higher royal courts for the reconstruction of the balance between the parties; through this practice, in addition to carrying out the activity of coordination of government action towards lower courts, it was possible to have control over those trials whose sentence could be full of political implications