Chapter I

, note 20, for distinction between oidores and alcaldes del crimen.

[123] Ibid., 68; 2-19-2.

[124] Ibid., 1, 3.

[125] Ibid., 2-15-63, 71.

[126] Ibid., 2-15-74 to 85.

[127] Ibid., 90-91.

[128] Ibid., 93.

[129] Exemption from the jurisdiction of the civil authority having been claimed by the military and religious orders of Santiago, Calatrava, and Alcántara, Philip IV, on April 1, 1635, gave jurisdiction over these orders to the audiencias.--Ibid., 96.

[130] Ibid., 5-10-1.

[131] Ibid., 2.

[132] According to the Recopilación, 5-13-1 (laws of October 20, 1545, February 13, 1620, and the Ordinance of Audiencias [1563]), the value of the peso was fixed at 450 maravedís.

[133] Recopilación, 2-15-88.

[134] Ibid., 5-12-20.

[135] Ibid., 5-12-29.

[136] Ibid., 5-10-3.

[137] Ibid., 5-13-8.

[138] Ibid., 4, 7.

[139] Ibid., 5-10-4.

[140] Ibid., 5-13-1.

[141] Ibid., 2-15-97.

[142] Ibid., 88.

[143] Ibid., 103, 107, 108. Magistrates were forbidden to sign decisions during office hours--valuable time which should be devoted to hearing cases (ibid., 109).

[144] Ibid., 105.

[145] Ibid., 117. Pesquisidores were special investigators with extraordinary executive and judicial powers who were sent out by the home or central government when need arose to correct abuses in colonial or provincial administration. Visitadores (visitors) were sent regularly to inspect the government of a province or colony. The governor was supposed to dispatch visitors to examine the work of alcaldes mayores and corregidores every three years.

[146] Ibid., 118.

[147] Ibid., 178.

[148] Recopilación, 5-15-21. Acuerdo, the joint consultative action of the governor and audiencia. See