THE PROBATIVE CAPACITY OF ACCOUNTS IN EARLY-MODERN SPAIN

This paper examines the probative capacity of accounting records as explicated in the accounting literature of early-modern Spain. Several early examples of Hispanic legal texts constitute the principal sources. The chief findings to emerge from this study are that legal requirements greatly influenced accounting forms and procedure during this period and that Castilian jurisprudence encompassed a theory and standards of evidence to guide the use of accounting records as evidential matter.