"libre de quintas"

Question

I am reading by Doña Emilia Pardo Bazán. It opens with a young man leaving town with a number of items including

el certificado falso de hallarse libre de quintas

I doubt that libre de quintas means

free of fifths

Any ideas?

Thanks, Jane >

Answer 1

It's hard to say with absolute certainty without seeing the context but I believe it's saying that he's trying to dodge the draft -- he's got a certificate that says he's exempt from military service or the draft.

The story is El voto and the young man is from 19th century Spain on his way to seek his fortune in Argentina. I wasn't aware that they had a draft but it was apparently some type of certificate he needed to make the trip, so it's possible. - zeldasmomaz, Jan 3, 2015

Answer 2

There is a military Spanish law (now abolished) from nineteen century, called "Ley de Quintas", that established conscription for young people. To prevent the boys avoid their responsabilities, they needed an certificate "certificado de quintas" commonly called, that they needed for example to travel. (Feel free to correct me).

Hay una ley militar española, ya abolida, del siglo diecinueve, llamada Ley de Quintas, que establecía el servicio militar obligatorio para los jóvenes. Para evitar que los mozos eludieran sus reponsabilidades, ellos necesitaban un certificado "certificado de quintas" llamado vulgarmente, que necesitaban por ejemplo para viajar.

Ley de Quintas.

gracias, Josuele. - annierats, Jan 5, 2015

Answer 3

I agree with CapnSpanish that Quinta can mean conscription, call up or draft and I've read that the name came from the percentage of youths in the old days that were reluctant to enter into military service - don't quote me though