Wow, Spanish law was nuts
In the book Good Faith and Truthful Ignorance, authors Alexandra Parma Cook and Noble David Coook discuss the case if Francisco Noguerol dfe Ulloa and the legal/lady troubles he had to go through. Essentially, our boy Francisco promised to marry a lady in Spain, did to get that dowry money, and then was like “I’m bouncing to the New World” and then did. Later he hears (from his sisters) that the lady with whom he was married had died. So later he remarried and got talked into going back to Spain by new wife. When he did he was immediately arrested because his first wife was suing him to force him to come back to her and also to recover her dowry.
What makes Spanish law crazy was that all of the beginning legal battle was done while Francisco was in Peru and while they had no confirmation that he even knew what was going on. His mother and the brother of his new wife had to do all the legal proceedings for him. And then when he did finally arrive he was arrived and his property was taken and then he had to mount his legal defense. And from then on there was a ton of nasty things said, documents reviewed and written and exchanged. All this was overseen by some judges (with no jury because they didn’t do that kind of thing) and there was lots of changing of minds. Eventually Francisco prevails. Insane.