The laws and legal processes of many Latin American countries are old and formalistic. The norms and principles at play in the continental-law system of Latin America can be traced directly back to the laws of the Roman republic, predating by many centuries the foundations upon which the Anglo-American or common-law system is based. This is particularly true in matters of commercial contracts and agency, in the complex relationships delineated in family law, the legitimacy of state authority, and the primacy of natural law. Add to this tradition the weight of ecclesiastical law and the bureaucratic and complex societal legacies of Iberian colonialism, and what emerges is a complex tapestry of code law, entrenched norms, and traditions of practice that resist change and defy easy explanation or understanding.