The Scandal: Theory and Reality in the Criminal Processes of the Royal Chancery of Valladolid (Castilla, 18th Century)

A scandal is an act or saying which sets a bad example to others. Its importance is reflected in all kinds of literature, such as novels, plays, << pliegos de cordel >>, and reports of events. As a sin, it has been analysed in Canon Law, moral writings, and manuals for confessors. As a crime, it is present in treatises on legal practice, in the times before codification. Everything we know through these sources provides us with the theory about scandal, what is scandalous and what scandalizes. However, analysing it from the perspective of the judicial sources of the Modern Age, specifically those from the 18th century, allows us to know what influence it had in relation to crime, to understand how it came to be present in the courts, the weight it had in the sentences as an aggravating circumstance, as well as the differences which can be observed between the casuistry with men and women as protagonists.