_An act decreeing that the officials of this royal Audiencia shall give
bonds at the beginning of every year, and that likewise, they shall
give them for the time during which they have already held office._
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first day of January, one thousand
five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal
Audiencia and Chancillería of these Philipinas Islands declared that,
whereas, in order to conform to the decrees and provisions of his
Majesty, and to be just with the parties entering suits, the officials
of this royal Audiencia are under obligation to give bonds that they
will undergo residencia for the right exercise and discharge of their
duties, at the beginning of each year: therefore, because hitherto they
have not given bonds for the time while they have exercised their said
offices, and because they should give them, both for the aforesaid time
and for the future, they resolved and ordered that the commissioners
of examination, attorneys, assessor of taxes, collector of fines,
deputies of the alguazil-mayor, and the prison warden of this court,
shall each one of them, within fifteen days after being notified of
this act, give safe and reliable bonds, before the undersigned clerk
of court, that they will undergo residencia for the use and exercise
of their offices, and pay everything which may be adjudged against
them in the matter, and also in the suits which may be instituted
against them. They are also warned that after the said term of office
has expired, they shall exercise the said offices no longer, which
shall be immediately declared vacant, and other persons appointed
thereto. Likewise, within the said term and under the said penalty,
they shall give bonds for all the time during which they have already
exercised the said offices in the royal Audiencia, for which they have
not given them. In the future, they shall be notified and ordered to
renew the said bonds at the beginning of every year, under the said
penalty. By this act they so provided, enacted, and decreed.
Before me:
_Pedro Hurtado Desquibel_
_An act decreeing that cases of twenty pesos or less shall not be
brought to trial; and that the notary shall not take a larger fee
than one-half peso from each party._
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first day of the month of January,
one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors
of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of the Philipinas Islands
declared that, whereas so many suits involving twenty pesos or less
are wont to be begun, and as much time is consumed therein as if they
were affairs of greater magnitude, whence there results to the parties
concerned great harm and damage by reason of the great cost and expense
wasted therein, beside the long and tedious delays in the collection
of their debts: therefore, to remedy that, they agreed and ordered
that, now and henceforth, no trial shall be made of cases amounting to
twenty pesos or less, unless they are briefly and summarily disposed
of; and that the notary before whom they are brought shall not take
for his fee more than four reals only from each party, even if they
make many investigations in the matter--under penalty that all that
they take above that sum they shall return to the parties concerned,
together with four times as much for his Majesty's treasury. By this
act they so provided, ordered, and decreed; and the notaries whom
its fulfilment concerns shall be notified.
Before me:
_Pedro Hurtado Desquibel_
_An act concerning the order that the alcaldes-mayor are to follow
in trying Indian suits._
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first of January, one thousand
five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal
Audiencia of these Philipinas Islands declared that, whereas his
Majesty has ordered, in his royal decrees and ordinances, that the
suits of the Indians shall be treated summarily, and that processes
issued within the limit of the law shall not be so conducted that
the said Indians waste their substance by incurring too heavy costs:
therefore, in order that the royal will of the king our sovereign
might be exactly fulfilled, they resolved and ordered that the
alcaldes-in-ordinary and the alcaldes-mayor and other magistrates and
notaries, in suits of the Indians, shall observe their instructions
and the following articles.
First, when any Indian--whether man or woman--shall enter suit for
liberty, or any other matter, against another Indian without giving
a _traslado_, [3] the said magistrate shall order the Indian sued
to appear before him and take oath as to the truth of the demands
of the plaintiff. If he shall confess it, justice shall be done by
settling the case; and if he deny it, the case shall be reserved for
evidence within a short time, with obligation for publication and
conclusion. The said magistrates shall order that, as soon as both
parties name their witnesses, the latter shall be brought into court,
and an oath taken from them to tell the truth, and they shall cause
them to tell by word of mouth what they know. After they have thus
testified, the substance of their depositions shall be recorded,
in this form: "So and so of such an age, capable or incapable as a
witness, said so and so under oath;" and the same shall be done with
the other witnesses in the same order. The evidences of both parties
being taken, and the time-limit having expired, a just finding shall
be determined. If either of the parties appeal, the alcaldes-mayor
shall hear them in the court of appeals; and the witnesses named by
either party shall be subpoenaed, and shall give their evidence in the
same form as set forth above, the case being admitted to trial within
a short time, with obligation for publication and conclusion--at the
expiration of which the process shall be sent to this royal Audiencia
to be settled, the original parties being summoned for all trials,
the time and place being appointed by the court.
Second. _Item_: If the suit be a criminal suit, the complaint and
charge shall be received. If there is guilt, the person shall be
arrested, and the prisoner's declaration taken. The charge shall
be formulated against him, and the case admitted to trial within a
short period, with obligation for publication and conclusion; and
within the probatory limit the testimonies given in the preliminary
process shall be verified, other new ones received, if there be any,
and the defendant's plea taken. The time having expired, the case
shall be decided. If any of the parties shall appeal, the original
process shall be sent to the Audiencia; because in this way the said
natives will avoid heavy expense and cost, and the cases will be more
quickly decided. In criminal cases, no other form of process shall
be used than that which is appointed for civil cases.
Third. _Item_: If the suit be to the amount of three pesos, or
less, the judgment shall be so summary that only the substance of
the whole matter is to be written, together with the decision, in a
report. The original shall be retained by the notary, and if either
of the parties shall desire an authenticated copy, it shall be given
them as a safeguard of their rights. And in suits for the said amount,
only one real, and no more, may be collected between judge and notary.
Fourth. _Item_: That if the judge shall attest the testimonies in any
civil or criminal suit by flourishes and signatures that he may make,
he cannot collect any fees; since there are none due him except for
the acts that he shall draw up and sign.
Fifth. In order that the said instructions be exactly observed and
fulfilled, they declared that they order, and they did so order, the
alcaldes-in-ordinary and the notaries-public to be informed thereof,
and testimony thereof to be sent to all the alcaldes-mayor, whose
consciences they declared they charged, and they did so charge, with
the fulfilment thereof. Furthermore, in the residencias which shall
be taken from them, he who shall not have fulfilled this decree, or
caused it to be fulfilled, shall be punished and with great rigor. So
they provided, ordered, and decreed.