and at inspections of prisons, on every day that is not a holiday. At least in the afternoons they shall be present in the house of the president and auditors. All the above-mentioned duties, and each and every part and matter thereof, they shall take care to distribute among themselves in such a way that there shall not, by the default of them or of any of them, be any failure or delay in determining cases or other matters—under a penalty of two pesos for the poor for each day when the interpreters, men or women, or any of them, shall fail to do their duty in any of the aforesaid matters; and that, in addition, they shall pay the damages, interests, and costs to the party or parties detained for this cause.

302. Item: They shall not absent themselves without license from our president, under penalty of losing salary for the time while they were absent, and a fine of twelve pesos for the said court-room, for every instance of violation of this ordinance.

303. Item: We command that when they shall be occupied with suits or matters outside of the place where our said Audiencia shall sit, they shall accept nothing from the parties, directly or indirectly, beyond the fee assigned them. They shall make no bargains or agreements with the Indians, or partnerships, in any manner—under penalty of repaying sevenfold that which they thus accept and bargain for, and of perpetual discharge from office.

304. Item: For each day when any one of the said interpreters shall go out on commission and by order of our said Audiencia, from the place where it shall sit, they shall take as fee in addition to their salary two pesos, and no more; and shall accept no food or anything else from the parties, directly or indirectly, under the penalty of being obliged to repay it sevenfold to our exchequer.

305. Item: For each witness examined, if the interrogatory is of more than twelve questions, they shall receive two tomins; if the interrogatory is of less than twelve questions, one tomin, and no more, under penalty of paying fourfold to our exchequer. But if the interrogatory shall be long and the case laborious, the auditor before whom the examination is conducted may assess, in addition to the other fees, a moderate sum proportionate to the labor and time consumed.

306. Item: We command that the interpreters, each in turn, shall be in attendance at nine in the morning on every day when cases are heard, in the offices of the court clerks, to receive the memorandum which will be given him by the fiscal for summoning witnesses whom it shall be desirable to examine for the dues of the treasury—under a penalty of half a peso, for the poor of the prison, for every day of failure to be present.

307. And since, in regard to the fees to be taken by the officials of the said Audiencia, an official tariff [arancel] has been made, we command that what is contained therein shall be observed and fulfilled until other provisions are made and decreed by us.

308. Item: We ordain and command that, in the rest of the cases and matters, coming before the said Audiencia not here determined upon, shall be followed the ordinances made by us, and to be made by our said president and auditors.

Tariff of fees

309. [A list on which shall be entered the official tariff of fees must be posted in the court-room, and copies must be kept in the clerks' offices.]

310. Item: We ordain and command that our said president and auditors shall make a tariff of fees, in accordance with which our chief clerk of mines and the other officials who have no official tariff shall take their fees; and that they shall do the same in all the governments of their district, paying consideration to the nature of the offices, the region where they are situated, the expenses there, and the lack of supplies that may exist therein. These tariffs of fees are to be sent when made, with the signatures of the president and auditors, to our said council, to be examined and confirmed; and in the interim the tariffs which shall be made shall be observed.

Archives

311. Item: We command that in the house of our Audiencia there shall be a room in which there shall be a cabinet wherein shall be deposited the records of cases determined by the said Audiencia, after the decrees of execution [executorias] have been transcribed, the records of each single year being placed one above another. The court clerk shall place on each record of a case a strip of parchment stating the persons and the subject of the case. This shall be done within five days after the decree of execution has been transcribed. And in another part of the said room another cabinet shall be placed, in which shall be deposited the grants, decrees, and documents pertaining to the state, preëminence, and jurisdiction of the said Audiencia and provincial court [provincia] of its district. All shall be locked and the key be kept by the chancellor [chanciller]. All records shall be covered with parchment.

312. Item: We ordain and command that whenever an event occurs for which no provision or decree is made in these ordinances, and in the other decrees, provisions, and ordinances enacted for the said provinces, and in the laws of Madrid made in the year [one thousand] five hundred and two, and the provisions therein, [1] and command that our president and auditors, clerks and advocates, and other officials of our said Audiencia shall each, within thirty days, take the copy of this ordinance.

313. Item: We command that in the said Audiencia there shall be a record in which shall be entered all royal orders [cedulas] which we shall send or shall have sent to them; and they shall take care to observe and obey the same. And since it is our will that the said articles and ordinances above written shall be observed, and since it is likewise fitting for our service and the administration of our justice, we give commandment to our said president and auditors of the said Audiencia, which is accordingly to be established in the said city of Manila of the said island of Luçon, and to our fiscal, alguazil-mayor, and the officials and servants thereof whom the content of the said ordinances affects—both to those whom we now send and to those who shall be appointed henceforth—to each and every one of them, that they shall regard, observe, and perform them, and cause them to be observed and performed, in everything and for everything, as is contained and decreed in the said ordinances; and that they shall not proceed or act, or permit any to proceed to act, in any manner contrary to the tenor and form of these and of their contents.

Given at Aranjuez, May fifth, one thousand five hundred and eighty-three.

I The King

I, Antonio de Erasso, secretary to his Catholic Majesty, caused this to be written at his command.

The licentiate Diego Gasca de Salazar
The licentiate Alonso Martynez Espadero
The licentiate Don Gonsalvo de Çuñiga
               Don Lope de Vaillo
The licentiate Emojosa
The licentiate Francisco de Villafañe

Ordinances to be observed by the Audiencia established by your Majesty's command in the city of Manila, of the island of Luzon, of the Philipinas.

[Endorsed: "Establishment of the Audiencia of Manila, and the ordinances which must be observed. In the year 1583."]

Two Royal Decrees Regarding the Religious

The Audiencia to Aid the