Crímenes ocultos: La política de develamiento en las lógicas penitencial y jurídica medievales

alfonso x mentions in the segunda partida the well known symbolic image of the two spades and assigns to each one a different sphere of action. according to the partida the spiritual spade is in charge of hidden sins while the temporal spade does the same with the evident ones.however the partida does not establish any distinction in the character of hidden or evident sins which would explain which sphere each one belongs to. this fact seems to be the outcome of a process of construction which would by itself define the character of the sins to be judged. the author analyzes the antitheses posed to contemporary juridical logic by this division of sins and, consequently, its influence over the construction of the ideas of sin and crime.