For the early 16th-century, the following contemporary compilations give alphabetized topical overviews of existing laws at the time... Recopilación de las Leyes de las Indias. The famous Recopilación de las Leyes de las Indias was the primary official compilation of all the laws pertaining to Spain's colonial empire. Compiled after many decades of work, these laws were organized by topics within nine books, or libros, published in four bound volumes, or tomos (the full topical index of the first edition is provided below, which generally matches later editions), and appear as summary statements of royal decrees and other orders issued since the first years of Spanish exploration in the New World, with marginal notations as to date and place of issuance, and other source information. 1841 - Fifth Edition. Tomo I / Tomo II / Tomo III / Tomo IV