At the limit what is permissible: wills of Ginés de Toro y Pedro Vélez, Santiago de Chile´s sribes of the number

Abstract

Aún cuando tuvieron un estatus destacado dentro de la estructura institucional y jurídica colonial, los escribanos chilenos tuvieron grandes dificultades para sostener un rango social acorde con sus espectativas de ascenso social. Esto se debió a su origen familiar y socioeconómico desmedrado y al hecho que su formación no era académica sino práctica; los escribanos no eran diferentes a los artesanos cuyo prestigio social y sus posibilidades de éxito económico eran muy limitados.Even when they had a prominent status within the colonial institutional and legal structure, Chilean scribes had great difficulty sustaining a social rank according with their expectations of upward mobility. This was due to his family background and socioeconomic stunted, and the fact that their training was not academic but practical; the scribes were not different from those artisans whose social prestige and economic opportunities were very limited success