This article examines the structures, relationships, and manifestations of domestic violence against women in the villa of San Fernando during the transition from the late colonial order to early republican formation (1787–1830). Drawing on the theoretical contributions of the social history of justice and gender studies, a qualitative and critical discourse analysis is applied to fourteen judicial records for cruelty (sevicia), insults, and incest from the Fondo Judicial Criminal of San Fernando, housed at the Archivo Histórico Nacional de Chile. It unravels how dynamics of male domination operated under the protection of honor codes and the "right of correction."The findings demonstrate that the judicial apparatus functioned as an arena for negotiation and instrumentalization, where victims fractured patriarchal discourse by denouncing physical excesses. Furthermore, the study concludes that there was a profound continuity in moral sensibilities and in the preservation of the family order as the foundation of the republican State in formation, showcasing that institutional and political transformations in the public sphere did not dissolve the structures of oppression within the intimate space.
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