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PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 56 No 1 (2026), 43–63
ArticleTalión a trestné právo predhispánskych Nahuov
[Talion and Pre-Hispanic Nahua Criminal Law]
Peter Vyšný
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2026.188
published online: 22. 04. 2026
abstract
This paper confirms the hypothesis that the pre-Hispanic Nahua people had a more complex understanding of the principle of talion than is generally accepted, which was not limited to its use as a specific mode of punishment in which the nature of the punishment corresponded to the nature of the crime for which it was inflicted. In pre-Hispanic Nahua society, the principle of talion guided the punishment of offenders through religious-magical rituals that served both punitive and restorative functions. In the first instance, these rituals represented the perpetrators’ punishment. In the latter, they primarily served to repair the “damaged” cosmic order with the aid of the gods. This was often associated with the gods’ supernatural transformation of crimes and their negative consequences into positive phenomena. The rituals also served a secondary purpose of repairing injuries and compensating for damages suffered by victims and their survivors. The rituals used for punishment consisted of actions that were the opposite of those by which the crimes were committed and their negative consequences. As the perpetrators, the crimes and their consequences were conceptualised as dangerous and harmful pollution, the rituals used for punishment were purifying. The necessity of eliminating this pollution, coupled with the fact that only courts and other state bodies could perform these rituals, reinforced the state’s monopoly on prosecuting and punishing criminals.
keywords: pre-Hispanic period; Central Mexico; Nahuas; crime; punishment; ritual; talion; offender; pollution; meaning of punishing criminals in ritual form and according to the principle of talion
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