CHAPTER XXVII.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEMS.
1500-1800.
Peculiar Features of Spanish Colonies — The Supreme Authority — Division of the Indies — Provincial Government — Municipalities — Local Administration — Indian Communities — Office-holding, Restrictions and Requisites — Salable Positions — Vanity and Precedence — New Spain, Extent and Divisions — Offices and Duties of the Viceroy — Pomp, Privileges, and Pay — Vicissitudes and Jurisdiction of the Audiencia — Oidores' Tasks and Honors — Different Instance Courts — Costly Litigation — Causes of Crime — Peculiar and Severe Punishments — At the Scaffold.
The Spanish possessions in America partook of the Roman colony features in being acquired by conquest, held as integral parts of the state, and used greatly for the benefit of certain classes; yet they presented many peculiarities. The conquest was performed chiefly by private venture impelled by immediate gain; the sovereign stimulated by similar allurements stepping in to reap the more solid acquisitions, without fostering them by any special encouragement to immigration. The title to the Indias Occidentales, under which term were embraced the transoceanic domains of Spain, including the Philippines,[1] rested nominally on the grant of Pope Alexander VI. to the Catholic sovereign; and by virtue of this, Charles V. formally declared them incorporated in the crown of Castile inalienably.[2] All right to lands, all control
- ↑ 'Començados à contar por. . . treinta y nueve, ó por quarenta Grades de longitud Occidental del Meridiano de Toledo, que es por la Boca del Rio Marañon; i por la Oriental, por la Ciudad de Malàca.' Herrera, Descrip. Ind., 2. The question is more fully discussed in Morelli, Fasti Novi Orbis, 281-3, yet with the conclusion, 'linea demarcationis, nondum definitum est.'
- ↑ Text of decree in Recop. Ind., i. 523.
