Inca rulers

Legal System and History of the Inca’s
I. Introduction
The Inca were an expansive Indian tribe that lived in the Andean area of South America which expanded over Peru, Ecuador and Chile. The history of the Inca is very intriguing as they began as a small tribe amongst others and grew into a powerful empire. The Inca did not have a formal writing system and archeologists have had to infer from what little records they could find and through the mummies they have excavated in the past several years to determine what type of society the Inca had. Much of the information about the Inca is derived from the accounts of the Spaniards or from descendents of the Inca, which has left room for ambiguity, and sometimes unreliable accounts of the life of the Inca.
The Inca Empire began around 1200 AD and continued through the 1500’s when they were conquered by the Spanish in 1532. There are myths about the origin of the Inca which propose that the Inca “consisted of three original lineage groups unified under the leadership of Manco Capac, the legendary founder of the dynasty. These myths describe the Inca searching for fertile land, which they found in the Cuzco valley”. The Inca believed that the Sun created Manco and “that his father was Apu Tambo (Tambo Captain); and finally that he appeared from the cave of origination called Tambotoco (Hold of the Tambos)”.  “The Sacred Legend places this cave in Pacaritambo but Pacaritambo was both a mythical concept designed to impose a unity of provenience upon diverse peoples making up the Incas, and strictly a geographical location.” The Inca are thought to have been a group of people with different ethnic backgrounds, which changed throughout time as the Incas conquered and developed in different locations.  
When the Inca first found Cuzco, they were not immediately accepted by the natives in that area and had to spend some time outside of Cuzco before they were successful in taking over the area. This is where the Inca built the Sun Temple, called the Coricancha. As the Inca conquered different territories they would permit a person or family of the society they conquered to take part in ruling that area.
II. Social Structure
The word “Inca” has several different meanings. Inca is the meaning of the Inca tribe, but it also refers to the Emperor. The word Inca can also refer to the nobility or the Inca de Privilegio (Inca by privilege), most of whom were not related by blood to the Inca. The Inca Empire was separated into four different parts, which as a whole was called the Tahuantinsuyu, which some sources have translated as “the Land of the Four Quarters”. Within the four segments there were also smaller divisions called ayllus. The center of the district was called Cuzco, the northern part was Chinchasuyu, the eastern was Antisuyu, and the southern part was called Collasuyu. The four divisions were said to have been given theses names after the “powerful ethnic groups in the respective regions”.
Royalty
The Inca believed that the Inca rulers were given their power through divinity. And that the Inca rulers were “direct decendent(s) from the Sun” and were sent to act as prophets for the Sun god. The social structure of the Inca was hierarchical and was justified by the divine rights of the Inca rulers. The Inca had many responsibilities within the community such as “political, military or economic” contributions dependant on their status in society. The Inca hierarchy begins with the Inca royal family at the top and in descending order, nobles of royal blood, Incas by privilege, Curacas, assistants of the Inca, and the commoners at the bottom. The royal Inca and the Inca by privilege were allowed to wear ear-plugs and headbands that were similar to ones that the Inca ruler wore. Citizens who were not of Inca blood or Inca by privilege were not permitted to wear the type of ornamental ear-plugs or headbands designated for the royal Inca because this was a status symbol of Royalty.
Having a pure blood line for royalty was very important. In order to keep the blood line as pure as possible the emperor would marry his sister.  Incest was only acceptable for the emperor and nobility. Commoners would be punished for the committing the same act. If however, the emperor’s sister could not conceive, then he could marry the “nearest living female relative, such as his cousin.” The emperor had the power to marry as many wives as he chose, but any children conceived from anyone other than his “principal wife”(whom was his main wife) was not a rightful son and was not entitled to become an emperor.
Nobility
The Inca nobility along with being allowed to wear the headdresses and ear-plugs as the emperor, they held the various important positions in society. Some were judges, governors, architects or in charge of the quipu (which was the Inca way of keeping records) . While the commoners had to pay taxes, the nobles were excused from those responsibilities and would not be sent off to war or to perform other services for the emperor. The nobles governed large areas of land. The nobles “ruled over populations of about 40,000 taxpayers or households,” giving them much power.
Priests and Nuns
Priests were ranked on a similar level as the administrators. The priests did not have to pay taxes and were supported by the produce of the commoners.
Need to add more information here.
Inca by Privilege
As one may expect the hierarchy in Incan society was mainly based on heredity, but some aspects of the Inca hierarchy strays away from the common blood lines, and permits some members to be part of the upper class who are not even a part of the Inca tribe. The Inca were very strategic and recognized that having connections with other tribes in the area would be beneficial to their success as an empire. With allies close by, the Inca would be able to overpower an invader.
The Inca by privilege were members of other tribes that were accepted by the Inca politically and sometimes through marriage.  The Inca by privilege were permitted to call themselves Inca, but “their wives and daughters could not call themselves Palla like those of royal blood….” The Inca by privilege spoke Quechua, which was the same language that the Inca spoke, which permitted them to hold administrative positions to help control newly conquered tribes and Curacas to teach the rules of Inca society.
Curaca
In addition to having Inca by privilege hold important positions even though they were not blood related, the Inca also incorporated the head local family of the newly conquered to rule that area. The new leaders of the conquered area were called Curacas. In Inca society the Curacas were “a secondary nobility which enjoyed some of the privileges of the Incas, but those that belonged to it were never given the right to call themselves Incas.” The new Cuarca position once in place would then only be an inherited position within the local tribe they conquered. Even though the Curaca would hold these positions, the Incas were still at the top of the hierarchy. The Curaca did not necessarily hold as important administrative positions as the Inca by privilege, but they were responsible for many tax payers. The rank of the Curaca was based on the amount of taxpayers he was controlling.
By leaving the newly conquered with some sense of power this probably eased the relations between the Inca and the conquered society because they would not be completely under the Inca command and would still be able to have the appearance of control over their own people. In addition, the Inca may have thought that incorporating part of the conquered society into their power structure would make it easier to control the rest of the conquered society, because they would be familiar with their new “ruler” and could probably relate to them more easily and may even have been less resentful of the Incas.
Commoners
The Inca commoners mainly worked in the fields and produced agriculture to pay taxes and also had to spend time fighting in wars or contributing to the construction of the roads or irrigation systems. The obligation of fighting in wars of constructing roads was called the mita service. Some commoners were artisans and though their services supported the state the same way the agricultural workers did, the artisans did not have to contribute agriculture to pay taxes or participate in war. The artisans were really rare and the average commoner was a taxpayer and paid taxes by cultivating the land. The produce was used to feed the entire empire, placed in a storehouse and was also used as an offering for the Sun god.
In addition to paying taxes, the communities were also required to weave cloth for the royal Incas and for the Sun. The women were usually the weavers, but the sons of these women would also take part in weaving until they were married. The communities also had to provide women or young girls to the house of the chosen women. The house, called an apopanaca was run by an official in every division of land and he would choose “girls under the age of 8 he though suitably attractive” who would stay in the house until they became teenagers. The young girls were then brought to Cuzco and “they were distributed by the Inca or some representative of his. Some were made women of the Sun and put into service in various religious establishments,” while others were sacrificed or put to work as servants of the Inca and his family. Though it appears that young girls or women were sacrificed, there is some evidence that males were also sacrificed. Garcilaso’s version of the When an Inca Emperor died, “the women he had cherished the most and the servants closest to the king, allowed themselves to be killed, or buried alive, so that they could accompany their master into the next life.”
III. Economics- Land and Agriculture
The Inca land system consisted of “communal agriculture accompanied by communal tax obligations…”  It appears that the separate divisions of land were ruled by officials or nobles who inherited their positions and benefited from the labor of the commoners on that land.  The commoners paid taxes by cultivating land. The commoners worked on their own community land, which they held a share of and paid taxes by cultivating the land of the government and the land for the Sun. The share of land that a commoner held was a portion of the whole community land. The size of the land was determined by how many people were in the family, to make sure that each family had enough crops to feed the entire family.  The share was inalienable (with exception to the emperor) and inherited through the males in the families.  The commoner would never have the opportunity to govern a portion of land because they aren’t part of the royal family. In addition, the commoner did not own their share of the land, it appears more that they get to live there in exchange for working on the land and paying taxes.  If the land was not cultivated, the man and his family would lose the share (with exception to fighting in the war or doing a service for the emperor and old age), meaning that the commoner would always be indebted to the emperor or the governor for that share of land.
The officials in different jurisdictions were also ranked and they were allotted a certain number of tax payers per jurisdictions. The division was based on a decimal system, broken down by “10,000, 5,000, 1,000, 100, 50, and 10 taxpayers and their families”. The officials with more taxpayers under their control were higher up in the hierarchy of officers. The tax was not the goods that were produced, but the actual labor that produced the goods.  Every year the Inca had a census that was held by the local governing officer, who would meet with the men of the community and see how much land each man needed by taking into account the size of his family.  This was a way to ensure that the share of land was in balance with the need of the family.
Land Transfers
There does not appear to be much evidence showing the selling and purchasing of land or the renting or leasing of land. Land could be transferred by: Conquest. “assignment of lands in each conquered locality to the Inca and Sun”, the Emperor could grant land to people he wanted to reward for his services, inheritance, change of occupation or office,  “periodic redivisions of community land.” Therefore, commoners did not have much control over the land because the individual never truly owned the land. They did not have control over transferring the land or the power to choose what to do with the land. They only got to use the land if they paid taxes by working on the Sun and Emperor’s land.
Each community contributed their produce to storehouses which were filled with supplies for everyone to share. There were three storehouses, one for the general population for emergencies, another to pay the king and a third to contribute to the Sun. Storehouses were located on community land and on the Sun land. The storehouses would hold the harvests for emergencies, which also held supplies for the army. The elderly also benefited from the storehouses that they contributed to for so many years. The elderly, who could no longer contribute to the storehouses, would be able to take what they needed and were no longer responsible for paying taxes.
Quipu
A quipu was the Inca way of keeping track of records. The Inca did not have a writing system, so they used “knotted and colored cords, called quipu(s).” The knots and cords recorded information numerically and were the core of the Inca’s statistics, taxes, accounting, and administration.   The Inca who were trained to work the quipu were called quipucamyocs, and were of higher status than the commoners. The Inca recorded laws on the quipu, but it was hard for them to be precise without a writing system, therefore much of the laws were probably up to the discretion of the judges.
IV. Inca Legal System
Garcilaso, a decedent of the Inca, has a more positive view of the legal system than the secondary sources I have found. Garcilaso explains that Manco Capac taught the Inca “what was necessary for the maintenance of life…” and “instructed them in the natural and reasonable laws that were to govern their relationship with one another.” Garcilaso also mentions that the laws were meant to be the same for everyone. However, the secondary sources state that there was a disparity between the way the law was applied to the Royal Incas and the commoners. It is not clear which explanation is more accurate. Garcilaso states that the laws were taught to Manco Capac by the Sun. Each king who created new laws would simply state that Manco Capac created the laws, but did not mention all of them so that successive kings could make the laws public when a particular law was necessary.
The Inca considered all “breach[es] of law…as disobedience to the emperor, or on par with treason and sacrilege.” Which is consistent with what Garcilaso states that it was “not so much the seriousness of the offense itself was considered as the crime of lese majesty and, therefore, of lese divinity that it implied.” I believe Lese is the French word for injured, (which must have been left in from the French translation of Garcilaso’s story).Which seems to mean that a crime injures the emperor or empire.
            The Inca legal system included tax laws, property laws, criminal laws, and some moral laws. The criminal system appears to be mainly deterrence based in regards to the commoners because almost every crime warranted a severe punishment of a beating or death. As Garcilasco puts it “all men naturally love life and hate death, with the result that the subjects of the Inca came to hate quite naturally the offenses that led to death and, for this reason, there was little occasion to apply the law.”  The system as a whole had great discrepancies between the severities of punishment depending of the status of the person and in some cases their gender.  It is amazing that the Inca had a relatively organized legal system and government with so many different people having legal control over different areas of the empire given that it must have been difficult for each sector to communicate with one another.  The Inca legal system was connected with the structure of the empire because administrators, governors, and Curacas all had varying roles in the system.
Distinction Between Laws for Nobility and Commoners
The Inca laws were oral because the Inca did not have a written language, however some information was recorded on the quipu. In Inca society the emperor and elite class were immune from punishment for committing certain acts that would have been considered crimes if they were committed by the lower classes.  The emperor was allowed to commit acts that would have been considered serious crimes for the commoners such as “incest, homicide and theft” which would normally impose the death penalty.  As mentioned previously the emperor was permitted to marry his sister to keep the bloodline pure and he was allowed to kill whomever he chooses.  
In addition, the emperor could take the “property of those who were considered to have committed a crime against him”. The nobles were not permitted to commit the same acts as the emperor, but they were privileged with a lesser punishment if they did commit certain crimes.  If a noble committed a crime they would be reproached in public.  The viewpoint from looking at the chronicles is that being publically scolded was as bad as being sentenced to death because the nobles were seen as more moral than the general public.
Children who committed offenses were “punished in proportion to their age and to the degree of their innocence.” Often the fathers of the children who committed the offense would receive a harsher punishment than their child because the father is seen to have failed to teach his child the law and to respect it.
Court Fees
The courts did not have fees, which allowed commoners that would otherwise not be able to afford the fee try their case.  Without expensive court fees, the commoners, who did not have money were not prevented from having their cases heard. Though, the nobility and those of royal blood were exempt from many acts that would be considered crimes if the commoners had committed them, the commoners were not limited monetarily in bringing cases to court. In societies where it is expensive to go to court, there are many people that just cannot afford to get justice, and for the Inca commoner being heard in court was not an issue. This access to the courts probably promoted the reporting of crimes and also may have been a deterrent because criminals would know that there wouldn’t be anything stopping the victim or the victim’s families from going to court to present their case.  However, it is not clear if the commoner would report crimes committed against them by a noble because the nobility would not be severely punished and with the conception that nobles were more moral, the commoner may have feared that they would not be believed if they reported the crime.
Compensation and distinction between intentional and nonintentional crimes
Though the punishments for crimes were generally physical or death, there is some evidence of a few exceptions. For example if a person’s flock of animals damages a neighbor’s land, the owner of the land that was damaged is permitted to take some of the animals to match how much damages was done.  This shows that the Inca had a distinction between criminal acts and tortious acts, however, a person may be liable criminally and also have to pay damages.  For example if a person burned down a house he “was put to death, but he also had to pay for the damage out of his property”.  Moreover, the Inca also distinguished between intentional and negligent acts. If the a man burns down his own house on accident, but happens to also burn down his neighbor’s house, he must pay for the damages of his neighbor’s house, but he would not be sentenced to death.
Criminal Law
Crimes against royalty were the most serious offenses.  However, the type of punishment a person would receive for committing a crime would vary depending on the person’s rank and gender.  Death was a common punishment for crimes such as adultery, witchcraft, or stealing from the royal Inca land.  Royal Incas would only be punished by public scorning or would lose some benefits of his upper class status .  Men who committed a crime were given more privileges than women as were the royal Inca or people who held administrative positions. For example, if a man killed his wife for adultery, he was not killed, however, if the woman killed her husband for adultery she “was hung by the feet until she was dead.”
In addition to the disparity between a woman killing her adulterous husband and a man killing his adulterous wife as mentioned above, the Inca also made the distinction between the instigator of a crime and the person who fought back in self defense.  “If the dead man began the fight, the killer was exiled to the tropical coca plantations of the Inca; but if the killer had caused the quarrel, he was put to death.”
If a person killed someone with witchcraft, they would be killed and in addition, their family would be killed as well because the Inca feared that the family would still take part in witchcraft.         
There were only certain officials who could impose the death penalty on criminals. A low rank official that imposed the death penalty on a criminal would be punished in public himself. And if the same official committed the crime again, he would then be put to death. Despite the Inca granting officials exemptions or lesser punishments, the Inca government still needed to make the ultimate decision in cases involving the death penalty.  Though this may appear to be excessive control by the central government, it may have also been in place to prohibit lower ranking officials from killing people that the government may have felt did not deserve the death penalty. Contributions?
Theft
An Inca who stole out of necessity would not be punished, if he was stealing the food from a field that did not belong to the royal Inca.  If the Inca had stolen from the royal Inca even if it were out of necessity, he would be killed, thus showing that crimes committed against royalty were punished more severely.  An Inca who has simply found an item that was not his would not be punished, so an Inca who has stolen some food from a field could pretend that he just found it on the road and would not be punished for stealing. With such serious punishments for crimes that do not even result in death, the Inca system must have been highly founded on deterrence. The strongest deterrent effect was on the commoners because they were more likely to be killed for offenses where a noble would not be punished so severely.

Judicial System
Some interpreters of the chronicles believe that there may have been a court with twelve judges however this court is not mentioned very often by the chroniclers, so it is not clear if it actually existed. The twelve judges may have referred to the twelve kings that reigned before being conquered by the Spanish. The Incas had judges within the decimal hierarchy who would hear most crimes and they also had judges outside this system who handled crimes against the Inca Empire and Inca religion. Within the decimal system, the officials that had more power and were permitted to hear more issues of consequence. The more trivial disputes were handled by officers of lower rank. The judges within the decimal system were not completely independent from the Emperor. They would have to inform officials who were ranked higher than them, of what the cases they were handling entailed, so that the government would know what was going on in that particular province.
The judges of each province would report their cases every lunar month to judges of higher rank. There was no possibility of appeal because the Inca considered a “royal edict”. (need to add this in)
The Curaca were “in charge of allocating the annually divided shares of communal land and dealt with whatever conflicts arose in connection with individual shares.”  Though the Curaca’s had a limited judicial role, it would be interesting to know how much influence the Curaca’s had on the community. The Curaca’s were the rulers that were once conquered by the Inca, so it is possible that each province where Curaca’s of different cultures ruled may have had different social norms and laws to varying degrees.
The Inca did have a “customary trial procedure, certainly from the administrative level of the provincial governor up...”   The trials did not solely include testimony that was made in court. If a dispute could not be resolved, particularly in criminal trials, the judge would speak with the official of the province where the defendant lived to get character evidence.

Punishment
The types of punishments the Inca had were very severe.  Death and torture were the main punishments for various crimes.  The Inca usually did not impose fines and did not imprison criminals for longer than needed for them to await their punishment.  Secondary sources mention that imposing fines on the Inca commoners would not have been very frugal because the Inca commoners did not really own property.  Garcilaso has a completely different reason for the Inca not imposing fines or taking property. He explains that “if a man guilty of an offense is deprived of his property, and his life is spared, what else will he do with it, if not commit even more offenses.”   Both views seem to have some weight because the commoners did not have much property, but they still could have stolen from the royal Incas who did have property. The Inca did not enslave criminals as punishments, which may have been because they had enough labor forces through the tax system.  In addition, the commoners had to do labor to pay their taxes anyway, so it would not have much of a serious or deterring punishment because they already owed so much to the government and the Sun god.
When crimes occurred the punishment was either handled by the judges or by the administrative officials governing the portion of land that the crime occurred.  Garcilaso states that the leaders of each province took on the role of an attorney and representative to seek help for an individual in his jurisdiction if they needed assistance. It was the representative’s duty to make sure there was enough food and clothing for his province and also his duty to report crimes, but the punishment was handled by officials of higher rank. According to secondary sources when minor crimes occurred the administration officials would handle the punishment, which was usually physical. Officials who were ranked below the governor had to get permission to enforce the death penalty.
Inheritance
Need to add…
V. Marriage and Family Life
Inca children would stay with their parents until after they reached puberty and married. Though the Inca Emperor and some members of the royal family or administrative officers could marry more than one wife, the commoners were generally not permitted to have more than one wife. The secondary wives did not have a set position in the family and could be disposed of if they were not performing their roles properly. The secondary wife would never become a principal wife, even if the first wife died because the principal wife had more status in the family than the secondary wife.
As stated previously, the Emperor would marry his sister, but incest was not permitted for the commoners, though they were only allowed to marry within their province. Commoners would have been subject to “the death penalty if they married within the fourth degree.”
Usually, the men were a few years older than the women that they married.  In order to get married, the couple would need to contract a marriage license before the wedding ceremony. After the ceremony the groom would place a sandal on the bride’s right foot.  The color of the sandal varied depending on whether the bride was a virgin or not. If the bride was a virgin she would receive a white sandal made of wool and if she were not a virgin she would receive sandal made of ichu grass. Both of the couple’s parents would be involved in the wedding process giving their children advice of the roles of a wife and a husband.  The whole community would celebrate the marriage of the new couple.
In each community, neighbors would work together to build the new couple’s home.  If a person of nobility was married, the public would create a workforce to build the noble’s home.  After a commoner’s wedding the couple would give each other’s mother coca leaves and possibly firewood for the bride’s parents.  It is interesting that the Inca permitted cohabitation before marriage if the couple had the desire to eventually get married. A couple was not permitted to elope without the consent of the bride’s father. It was probably not too common for couples to elope, because cohabitation was accepted in their culture.
Pregnancy was welcomed in Inca culture because more children meant more hands to do the agricultural work. Because of the importance of having children in Inca culture performing an abortion was a serious crime. The people involved with performing an abortion would be put to death. Women did not have to continue to work in the fields when they were pregnant.  The Inca believed that babies were not supposed to be pampered and that exposure to the cold and night air would make their legs and arms strong.
VI. Conclusion
Correlation to concepts in modern society…