Don Phelipe, etc. When I ordered the suppression of my royal audiencia
and chancilleria resident in the city of Manila of the Filipinas
Islands, and established there a governor and lieutenant-governor
(the latter of whom is a lawyer), to take care of matters of justice,
one of my decrees was ordered to be promulgated, in which was declared
the order to be followed in the hearing of suits and causes that
might arise in the said islands. This is of the following tenor:
"Don Phelipe, by the grace of God, king of Castilla [his other titles
follow]. Inasmuch as, for certain reasons advantageous to my service,
I have resolved to order the suppression of my royal audiencia, at
present established in the Philipinas Islands, and have appointed
as my governor and captain-general of them Gomez Perez Dasmarinas,
knight of the order of Santiago, and you, the licentiate Pedro de
Rojas (at present my auditor in my said royal Audiencia), as his
lieutenant-governor and counselor, to determine matters of justice;
and inasmuch as, the said Audiencia not having existence, it is
advisable that for the peace and tranquillity of the said islands and
the citizens and inhabitants thereof, and the good administration
of justice therein, you should understand the system that you are
to observe and follow in the hearing and determination of the suits,
which were moved and were pending in the said Audiencia, or that will
be moved hereafter: I declare, desire, and will that in all cases you
shall hear, sentence, determine, and execute in the following form
and manner. All the suits that were pending in the said Audiencia,
and were not concluded on trial, you shall resume in the condition
in which they were left, and they shall be prosecuted before you. You
shall pass sentence upon them; and if appeal is made by the parties, or
either one of them, from your decisions, you shall submit the appeal to
the president and auditors of my royal Audencia residing in the city of
Mexico, in Nueba España. You shall likewise refer to my said Audiencia
of Mexico the suits that may have received sentence on trial in the
said Audiencia, if appeal has been made from the sentence, so that
the cases may be prosecuted before it, and sentenced in review. And if
any suits were sentenced in review in the said Audiencia of the said
Philipinas Islands, and the execution of the sentences is demanded,
then you are authorized to have them executed, as well as the sentences
given on trial in the said Audiencia in suits pending therein, and
on which no appeal was made, and if the said sentences on trial were
passed in a case where judgment was rendered. Likewise I declare, and
it is my will, that you may hear and try the suits regarding Indians
which shall be moved in the said islands henceforth, and those which
might come before you on appeal from the corregidors that are and were
in the said islands. In hearing the said suits regarding Indians,
you shall observe the royal decree and edict given at Malinas, and
the declarations that were made regarding it. In this and in all the
abovementioned cases, as well as in all other suits and causes that the
said Gomez Perez Dasmarinas can and ought to try, as being governor and
captain-general, and you, the said licentiate Pedro de Roxas, as his
counselor and lieutenant-governor, for the determination of the said
suits and matters of justice, you shall observe the laws and ordinances
of these kingdoms, and the instructions, provisions, and decrees,
given by the emperor and king, my sovereign (may he rest in peace),
and by me, and those that shall be given. And for authorization to
perform and fulfil all that is above mentioned, and any portion and
part of it, and all else annexed and pertaining to it, I grant you
as complete and sufficient power as is required and as is needed. I
order the presidents and auditors of my royal audiencias of the said
Nueba España, and all the councils, magistrates, regidors, knights,
esquires, officials, and good men of all cities, towns, and hamlets
of Nueba España and of the said islands, to keep and observe this my
decree in every point, according to the tenor of what is contained
and declared therein; and that, for its fulfilment, they give and
cause to be given to you the help and assistance that you request
and that is necessary. And I order my said presidents and auditors of
my said royal Audiencia of Mejico to hear the said suits that shall
be sent there, in accordance with the above order; and that they
give sentence and conclusion to them in accordance with the law and
ordinances of these kingdoms, and with the said ordinances, provisions,
and decrees; and none of you shall violate them. Given at San Lorenzo,
August twenty-one, one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine.
_I The King_
I, secretary of the king, our sovereign, had this written by his order.
_Juan de Ybarra_"
I have been informed recently that, because of the great distance
of those islands from the city of Mexico (to whose Audiencia must be
sent appeals in the said causes), many, especially the poor, refuse to
prosecute their suits; for in some of them the costs amount to more
than the principal, besides the annoyance of the delay. This serves
as a cause for grief and annoyance, from which the wealthy profit to
the injury of most of that community. As I desire the relief of this
state of things, I order, with the concurrence of my royal Council of
the Indias, for the present that henceforth all suits for the value
of one thousand ducados or less be concluded in the courts of the said
Philipinas Islands. If appeal be made from the sentences given at the
first instance, and substantiated in the second, in conformity with
law, the case shall be regarded as closed with the sentence imposed by
the said lieutenant-governor in the second instance, and no appeal can
be taken from it. In suits and causes for more than one thousand pesos
[_sic_], appeal may be made to my said royal Audiencia of Mexico,
in accordance with the tenor of the decree inserted above. In order
that this may be public and manifest, I order this my decree to
be published in the said city of Manila. Given at Madrid, January
seventeen, one thousand five hundred and ninety-three.
_I The King_
Countersigned by Juan Bazquez, and signed by the council.
[_In the margin_: "In order that suits and causes of one thousand
ducados and less may be concluded in the court of the Philipinas
islands; and, if the amount be in excess of the above sum, they may
be appealed to the royal Audiencia of Mexico."]