Note V-14 — Chapter V · ADMINISTRATION OF THE INDIES. 1492-1526.

Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias, of which I make general use in referring to the laws passed in Spain for the regulation of the affairs of the New World, is the result of several previous efforts in the direction of compilation. It was published at Madrid, the first edition in four volumes, by order of Cárlos II. in 1681, and the fourth edition in three volumes, under the direction of the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, in 1791. The work aimed to embody all laws in force at the date of the respective editions relative to the Spanish American colonies. The three volumes are divided into nine books, and each book into from eight to forty-six titles. The first title of the first book is De la Santa Fe Católica, a subject then second to none in grave importance. In fact the whole of the first book is devoted to ecclesiastical and kindred matters. The second book refers in the main to tribunals and officials; the third in a great measure to the army; the fourth to discoveries and settlements; the fifth to executive and judicial offices; the sixth to Indians, including treatment, repartimientos and encomiendas; the seventh to crimes and punishments; the eighth to the management of the royal treasury; and the ninth to the India House and the commerce of the Indies. By a decree of the emperor in 1550, which was embodied in the ordinances of audiencias in 1563, by Philip II., it was ordered that all cédulas and provisiones should be copied in extenso in a book set apart for that service, and of which great care should be taken, and that the said documents were to be filed chronologically in the archives of each audiencia. In 1571, by Philip II., it was decreed, and the decree embodied in the Recopilacion of 1680, that cédulas and provisiones concerning the royal treasury should be kept in a separate book.

The earliest printed collection of laws relating solely to the Indies is that of the ordenanzas for the government of the audiencia of Mexico. This was issued in 1548. In 1552 a similar collection was made by order of the viceroy of Peru, Antonio de Mendoza, for the government of the audiencia of Lima, but was not printed at that time. Later the fiscal of Mexico, Antonio Maldonado, began a compilation to which he gave the name Repertorio de las Cedulas, Provisiones, i Ordenanzas Reales, but it does not appear that he ever completed his task, although a royal cédula in 1556 authorized him to do so. Upon the representation in 1552 by Francisco Hernandez de Liébana, fiscal of the Council of the Indies, of the urgent necessity of such a work, a royal cédula was issued in 1560, directing the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, to have prepared and printed such regulations as were in force within the jurisdiction of the audiencia of Mexico, which was done in 1563 under the direction of Vasco de Puga, oidor of the audiencia. Francisco de Toledo, sent from Spain in 1569 as viceroy of Peru, was ordered to make a similar compilation covering the limits of his viceroyalty, but it was afterward thought better the work should be done in Spain. Hence in 1570 Philip II. ordered made a general compilation of laws and provisions for the government of the Indies, which was intended as a code, obsolete laws being omitted, new ones provided where necessary, and those in conflict reconciled. Of this work, from some cause not satisfactorily explained, probably from the death of the author, only the title relating to the Consejo de Indias and its ordenanzas was printed, although the whole of the first book had been prepared.

In 1581 some ordinances relative to the Casa de Contratacion and its judges were printed at Madrid; and more of a similar nature in 1585, beside the Leyes y Ordenanzas for the government of the Indies, and the ordinances of 1582 concerning the despatch of fleets for New Spain and Tierra Firme, printed at Madrid; and in Guatemala the ordenanzas of July 14, 1556, relating to the Universidad de los Mercaderes de Sevilla. In 1594 the marqués de Cañete, viceroy of Peru, published at Lima a small volume of ordinances relative to the good treatment of the Indians. But the want of a general compilation becoming more and more apparent, Diego de Encinas, a clerk in the office of the king's secretary, was ordered to prepare a copy of all provisiones, cédulas, cartas, ordenanzas, and instrucciones despatched prior to 1596, which work was printed at Madrid, in four folio volumes, the same year. Harrisse is mistaken when he says these volumes were suppressed, not having been authorized; for not only is their authorization distinctly stated over the king's own hand in the enacting clause of the Recopilacion de las Indias, May 18, 1680, where it says that Philip II. ordered Encinas to do this work, but that owing to their faulty arrangement the volumes 'aun no han satisfecho el intento de recopilar en forma conveniente,' which clearly shows them to have been in use up to that time. Shortly after this, Alvar Gomez de Abaunza, oidor of the audiencia of Guatemala, and subsequently alcalde del crímen of the audiencia of Mexico, compiled two large volumes under the title of Repertorio de Cedulas Reales, which were not printed. And in Spain, Diego de Zorrilla made an attempt to revive the project of the recopilacion de leyes, by making extracts from Encinas and adding laws of later date; but having received an appointment as oidor of the audiencia of Quito, he left the work incomplete and in manuscript. Others made similar attempts; I shall not be able to enumerate them all, or give a full list even of the printed collections. For example, in 1603 was published at Valladolid a folio entitled Ordenanças Reales del Consejo de Indias, and another thin folio called Leyes y Ordenanças Nuevamente hechas por su Magestad, para la gouernaciõ de las Indias; later appeared a folio entitled Ordenanças de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla, and another, Ordenanças Reales para el gobierno de los Tribunales de Contaduría Mayor en los Reynos de las Indias. In 1606 Hernando de Villagomez began to arrange cédulas and other laws relating to the Indies; and two years after, the celebrated conde de Lémos being president of the Council, Villagomez, and Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, member of the Council of the Indies, were appointed a committee to compile the laws; but nothing came of it, even Fernando Carrillo failing to complete their unfinished task. Juan de Solórzano y Pereira, oidor of the audiencia of Lima, also began a collection of cédulas, and sent to the Council of the Indies the first book of his contemplated work, with the titles of the other five books which he intended to compile. In a carta real he was thanked for what he had done, and charged to continue his labors, sending each book as prepared to the Council. I have no evidence that he did so.

All this time our book was a-building, and indeed for 170 years more. A complete history of this one work would fill a volume; obviously in a bibliographical note, even of undue length, only the more prominent agencies and incidents of its being can be touched upon.

We come now to the time when Antonio de Leon Pinelo, judge in the India House, presented to the Council of the Indies the first and second books, nearly complete, of his Discurso sobre la importancia, forma, y disposicion de la Recopilacion de Leies de Indias, which was printed in one volume, folio, in 1623. This was in reality Encinas' work with some cédulas added. Meanwhile it appears that some direct official work was done on a compilation, for in 1624 we find the Council instructing Pinelo to enter into relations with the custodian of the material for the compilation. Pinelo was likewise authorized to examine the archives of the Council; and for two years he employed himself continuously in examining some 500 MS. volumes of cédulas, containing over 300,000 documents. In the law authorizing the Recopilacion de las Indias of 1680, it is said that in 1622 the task had been entrusted to Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña, probably the custodian referred to. In 1628 it was thought best to print for the use of the Council an epitome of the part completed; hence appeared the Sumarios de la Recopilacion General de las Leies de las Indias. Aguiar y Acuña dying, Pinelo worked on alone until 1634, when the Council approved of what had been done; and in the year following this indefatigable and learned man had the satisfaction of presenting the completed Recopilacion de las Indias. To one of the members, Juan de Solórzano y Pereira, the work was referred, and received his approbation in 1636. More than half a million of cédulas had been examined and classified during the progress of this compilation. And yet it was not published; and during the delay it was becoming obsolete, and new material and partial compilations were being made both in Spain and in America, some of which were printed in separate pieces. In 1634 the Ordenanzas de la Junta de Guerra de Indias were published; in 1646 Juan Diez de la Calle compiled and published for the Council of the Indies in small quarto a memorial containing some of the cédulas of the Recopilacion. A useful aid for the study of statistic geography in America is to be found in the exceedingly rare Memorial y Noticias Sacras y Reales del Imperio de las Indias Occidentales. By Iuan Diez de la Calle, 1646, sm. 4to, 183 folios. A register for the Spanish colonies, chiefly of state and church officials, of towns, their wealth and notable objects. Folios 41-132 refer to the jurisdictions of the audiencias of Mexico, Guadalajara, and Guatemala. Calle had in the previous year, as assistant chief clerk to the secretary of the Royal Council of the Indies, presented the work to the king as Memorial Informatorio al Rey, and in accordance with his approval it had been reprinted with additions as above. Encouraged hereby he wrote at greater length the Noticias Sacras i Reales in twelve libros, the publication of which was begun, but never finished. Puga's work was continued in the form of an Inventario of the cédulas relating to New Spain issued from 1567-1620, the manuscript being presented to the secretary of the New Spain department of the Council of the Indies by Francisco de Párraga, afterward forming part of the Barcia collection. In 1647 appeared at Seville the Ordenanças Reales, para la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla, y para otras cosas de las Indias; in 1658 Pinelo published at Madrid the Autos, acuerdos y decretos de gobierno del real y supremo consejo de las Indias. In 1661 there was printed at Madrid a folio entitled Ordenanzas para remedio de los daños, é inconvenientes que se siguen de los descaminos i arribadas maliciosas de los Navios que navegan de las Indias Occidentales; and in 1672 the Norte de la Contratacion de las Indias Occidentales of Ioseph de Veitia Linage was published at Seville. J. Stevens translated this last work into English and published it in London in 1702.

The many and long periods of suspended animation of the Recopilacion de Indias, between its inception and its birth, is no less remarkable a feature in the history of the work than its multiplicity of origins and collateral affluents. In 1660 the case was brought before the king, and then referred to successive committees, in each of which were several members of the Council, the whole being under the supervision of their successive presidents, until finally, on the 18th of May, 1680, a royal decree made the Recopilacion de Indias law, and all ordinances conflicting therewith null. Even now printing did not seem to be at first thought of. Two authenticated copies were ordered made, one to be kept in the archives of the Council, and the other at Simancas. It was soon seen, however, that this was not sufficient, and in 1681 the king ordered the book printed under the superintendence of the Council of the Indies, which was done. Although the Recopilacion de Indias was several times revised, and well fulfilled its mission for over a hundred years, in fact to the end of Spain's dominion in America, several partial collections appeared from time to time in Spain and in America. Among these were Sumarios de las Cédulas ... que se han despachado ... desde el año 1628 ... hasta ... 1677, printed in Mexico in 1678; Ordenanzas del Perù, Lima, 1685; also the Ordenanhas de Cruçada, para los Subdelegados del Perù; Reglamento y Aranceles Reales para el Comercio Libre de España à Indias, 1778; Teatro de la legislacion universal de España e Indias, by Antonio Javier Perez y Lopez, 28 vols. 4to, Madrid, 1791-8. In the various public and private archives of Spain and Spanish America are manuscript collections of cédulas and compilations on special subjects.