The European Baroque profoundly affected New Spain’s artistic and architectural styles. Distinctive forms of Mexican Catholicism emerged in this period. The ideal of divinely instituted monarchy and the intimate alliance of Throne and Altar characterized Spanish-colonial rule. In practical terms, society was held together as much by the legal system as by patron-client relationships. The Laws of the Indies, codified in the 1680s provided the legal basis of Spanish rule and highlighted the king’s role as source of justice. Mercantile and financial networks dominated the processes of production, especially in the expanding mining sector. There was considerable disparity, however, between the condition of the majority of the population, large parts of it grouped in Indian communities and protected by the law, and the growing prosperity of the business classes. Considerable conflict developed over land and water rights and the condition of the labouring population. Royal and ecclesiastical institutions frequently adopted a mediating stance, though not always successfully. Spanish America survived largely intact the lowest point of Spanish power in Europe from the 1650s to the 1690s.