 The January 27, 1512 "Leyes de Burgos" codified the government of the indigenous people of the New World, since the common law of Spain wasn't applied in these recently discovered territories.The scope of the laws were originally restricted to the island of Hispaniola, but were later extended to Puerto Rico and Jamaica.They authorized and legalized the colonial practice of creating "encomiendas", where Indians were grouped together to work under colonial masters, limiting the size of these establishments to a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 150 people.