Abstract

This brief essay offers a study and an edition of the "Modo de pasar" del Doctor Bustos (c. 1587), an unpublished manuscript work, named after Martín de Busto, a canon law professor active at Salamanca in the last decades of the sixteenth century. The "Modos de pasar en Derechos" (ways of «passing» the laws) consisted of a sort of study guides, which contained moral prescriptions and practical advice about the books, the authorities, the subjects, the order and the time required to prepare for the academic examinations. They were especially directed to instruct the candidates in obtaining the licentiate degree, the so-called "licentia docendi" in both civil and canon laws. These advices were useful for those willing to pursue both university and professional careers, such as judges and lawyers. The Modos de pasar offer a rich source for the history of legal education in the early modern centuries, as well as for the investigation of the distinct reading practices concerning the common law (ius commune) and the law of the land ("ius proprium", "ius regni").