SearchMy library
← Table of contents
The Audiencia in the Spanish Colonies

Chapter VI · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: GENERAL RELATIONS

Reading edition

The audiencia was brought into closer and more frequent relationship with the governor than with any other authority in the colony. The governor was president of the royal audiencia and hence was nominally its chief magistrate. This brought him into touch with its functions as a court. The governor was chief executive of the colony, and in that capacity was responsible for administrative, financial, and military affairs. It will be noted that the audiencia, in various ways, exercised powers of intervention in all of these matters.

It will accordingly be our aim in this chapter to discuss the general relations of the audiencia and the governor. These include administrative, financial, and ecclesiastical functions, and those involving the government of the provinces. To these will be added such further observations as remain to be made concerning the judicial relations of the governor and audiencia, leaving apart for discussion in another chapter as an integral subject, the military jurisdiction and the respective participation of the audiencia and the governor in the matter of defense.

Professor Bourne very aptly characterizes the office of governor of the Philippines and its relations to the audiencia. He writes:

Juan José Delgado, who gives us perhaps the most comprehensive and realistic survey of the Philippines of any of the ecclesiastical historians of those Islands, describes the nature of the office of governor as follows:

The governor of the Philippines, like the viceroy of New Spain, was the administrative head of the colony, and as such exercised supervision over all the departments of the government, likewise over ecclesiastical affairs. He was directed to devote himself to the service of God, and to labor for the welfare of the souls of the natives and inhabitants of the provinces, governing them in peace and quietude, endeavoring to bring about their spiritual and moral uplift and their numerical increase. The governors (or viceroys) were instructed by the laws of the Indies

to provide all things which are convenient for the administration and execution of justice, ... to maintain the government and defense of their districts, exercising very special care for the good treatment, conservation and augmentation of the Indians, and especially the collection, administration, account and care of the royal exchequer.

From 1784 to 1787 the governor was temporarily deprived of the leadership in financial matters by virtue of the Ordinance of Intendants, but the oidores retained membership in the colonial board of audits, together with the intendant, who had taken the governor’s former place as the responsible head of the colony’s finances. In 1787 the governor was restored to his former position with respect to the exchequer, with the official title of superintendente subdelegado de real hacienda. It is sufficient to say that the governor’s relation to this new department did not materially lessen the authority of the audiencia with regard to the finances of the colony.

When the governor submitted the name of a candidate to the acuerdo it was the duty of the magistrates to furnish all the information possible regarding the character, fitness, and ability of the person under consideration for the position. If the audiencia and the governor should disagree and the latter still persisted in an appointment, it was the duty of the audiencia to submit, forwarding all evidence relative to the candidate to the Council of the Indies, the latter body ultimately taking such action as it deemed best. When the nominations of the governor reached the Council of the Indies for confirmation, that tribunal relied extensively upon information furnished by the audiencia concerning the candidates under consideration.

The chief reason for the restrictions and prohibitions placed on the marriage of magistrates seems to have been the conviction that officers of justice would compromise themselves by marriage, acquiring vast numbers of relatives and dependents, thereby making it impossible to render impartial decisions or administer justice as evenly and dispassionately as they would were they not so familiarly known in their districts. It was also necessary to prevent officials from lowering their dignity by union with natives and half-castes. The marriage of officials with natives of the Philippines was not regarded with favor at any time by the Spanish government.

A duty similar to that just noted, inasmuch as it was indicative of the authority of the governor over the oidores, was his power to examine and try criminal charges against the magistrates. A law which was in force from 1550 to 1620 ordered that the president should be assisted in the trial of criminal charges against oidores by alcaldes ordinarios. On September 5, 1620, this law was modified by the enactment of another, which ordered that in cases involving imprisonment, heavy fines, removal from office, or the death penalty, the governor should make the investigation and refer the autos to the Council of the Indies for final judgment.

The audiencia, in the exercise of the acuerdo power, passed ordinances for the enforcement of the laws forbidding the unauthorized departure of persons from the Islands; it helped to fix the rate of passage on the galleons and on the coast-wise ships. It made regulations for the Chinese in the Parián, it prescribed the conditions under which licenses might be issued to Chinese merchants and it passed ordinances for the better enforcement of the laws prohibiting the immigration of the Chinese. The acuerdo concerned itself with the maintenance of prisons and the care of prisoners, the residencias of provincial officials, the auditing of accounts, the collection of the revenue, and the supervision of the officials of the treasury. Ordinances were passed enforcing the general law which ordered that the natives should not live together in Christian communities without marriage, that they should attend religious ceremonies, that they should be instructed in religion, and that they should not be exploited, either by the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. It is, of course, understood that the audiencia in no way trespassed the authority of the church in issuing these regulations; indeed it was quite the contrary; these ordinances were passed on the basis of the authority of the royal patronage, with the design of assisting the vice-patron (the governor) in the execution of his duties, and the church was aided rather than impeded thereby. It must be remembered, of course, that the governor, as president of the audiencia, presided in these acuerdos, and that in most cases, actually, as well as in theory, these autos acordados were his will.

The governor was instructed to see that the salable offices were not conferred on the relatives of the oidores, nor given to his own relatives, but that they should be disposed of to persons offering the most money for them. It had been charged that governors and audiencias had connived together in the past to deprive persons of offices to which they were legitimately entitled. This had been done by allowing favorites to hold more than one office, and by favoritism in the sale of these positions. These abuses must be stopped, the king said; it was ordered that in the future no person should be allowed to hold more than one office, that as many of these as possible should be sold, with unrestricted competitive bidding.

The governor and the fiscal were ordered to exercise care and diligence in the inspection of the returning galleon, to see especially that it brought no unregistered money from persons in Mexico. Acuña’s predecessor, Tello, had recommended that west-bound galleons should stop at the Ladrones to leave priests and soldiers, and to minister to the needs of Spaniards already there. This was authorized and the governor was instructed to see that it was done. The governor was also ordered on this occasion to make an investigation of the audiencia. Complaints had been coming to the court for a long time against the laxity of the tribunal in the administration of justice, and of the commercial activities of the oidores. The governor was to aid the fiscal in the prosecution of any oidores who were remiss, to the extent of sending them under arrest to New Spain if the charges against them justified such action.

This Instruction, it will be noted, required the governor to intervene actively in practically all the governmental affairs that came up in the colony. He was to exercise authority with regard to defense, finance, and revenue. He was to exercise supervision over provincial affairs so as to insure the good treatment of the natives and the beneficent administration of the encomiendas. He was to give his attention to the galleon trade and to the disposal of offices within the colony. If doubt or difficulty arose in any of these matters of administration, he was to demand from the audiencia, its assistance, counsel, and support. The governor was also authorized to see that justice was administered effectively, though he was not to intervene directly in that matter, except to see that abuses were eradicated. This Instruction shows that the governor was regarded as the chief executive of the government. He was the responsible head in the judicial, administrative, and military spheres. The audiencia, on the other hand, had consultative functions, aimed to assist the governor when he required it, but to restrict him when he sought to exceed his powers. Instructions similar to this were given to many succeeding governors. A citation of these would prove nothing new, however.

In the same manner that the Instruction to Acuña gives us an idea of the relative functions of the audiencia and the governorship in 1602, so the criticisms of the able Spanish diplomat, Sinibaldo de Mas, written in 1842, aid us in estimating their respective spheres in the nineteenth century. This opinion is valuable because it summarizes the result of two hundred and fifty years of the interaction of these political institutions in the Islands. Mas showed the reason for the establishment of the intendancy, and the conferring of added powers upon the audiencia and criticized the relations existing between the governor and these institutions in the following terms:

Mas made extensive quotations which were calculated to show “the great confusion and contrariety of the orders to governor and audiencia.” This characteristic of the laws of the Indies has repeatedly been referred to in this treatise, and we shall note its results in a subsequent chapter dealing with the conflicts of jurisdiction between the audiencia and the governor.

It would appear, therefore, from this survey of the laws, that the audiencia was provided with ample means for restraining the action of the governor. This it could do either by admonition, by appealing from his decisions in administrative matters, or by blocking him in the acuerdo. It was evidently the design of those who planned the legislation of the Indies to guard at all times against the excesses of an all-powerful executive. Such was certainly the purpose of the establishment of the audiencia, both in the Americas and in the Philippines. Taking into consideration the three hundred years of Philippine history, however, it cannot be said that in the actual operation of the government these precautions were entirely effective.

Notes in this chapter

Note 1 · Recopilación, 2–15–11. Note the brief discussion of this relationship in Smith, The viceroy of New Spain, 152–156. Dr. Smith shows that the Note 2 · See Moses, Establishment of Spanish rule in America, 70–71. Philip III ordered the viceroy of New Spain to “give aid to the governor and capNote 3 · Bourne, “Historical introduction,” Blair and Robertson, I, 49–50.Note 4 · Delgado, Historia de Filipinas, 212–215.Note 5 · Delgado illustrates this statement as follows: “The legitimate King of Borney, who had been dispossessed of his kingdom ... begged for help Note 6 · Recopilación, 3–3–2; 63, 64; 3–14–1, 33.Note 7 · Instructions to Acuña, February 16, 1602, Blair and Robertson, XI, 273–4.Note 8 · Recopilación, 3–3–55; 3–2–33.Note 9 · Ibid., 3–3–56; 2–15–159.Note 10 · King to the Audiencia, December 4, 1777, A. I., 105–2–9. It was seen in the preceding chapter, that the audiencia reported to the Council ofNote 11 · Recopilación, 3–3–57.Note 12 · Ibid., 2–15–76 and 77.Note 13 · Ibid., 3–2–1 to 6; 2–15–172. Governors and viceroys were authorized by the cédula of April 20, 1776, to make permanent appointments to officNote 14 · Ibid., 3–2–67.Note 15 · Ibid., 3–2–1, 10 to 12, 47, 48; 8–4–24.Note 16 · Ibid., 3–2–8.Note 17 · Villacorta to the King, July 6, 1767, A. I., 106–4–15.Note 18 · Recopilación, 3–2–3, 4 and note, 21, 22, 47, 70; 5–2–5, 7, 8–4–1.Note 19 · Ibid., 3–2–1, 2, 3, 8–4–1.Note 20 · Ibid., 51. After February 20, 1785, this regulation applied only to offices yielding more than 2000 pesos a year.—Ibid., note 17.Note 21 · Ibid., 27.Note 22 · Ibid., 33, 38.Note 23 · King to the Audiencia, August 9, 1609, A. I., 105–2–1.Note 24 · Fajardo to the King, December 10, 1621, Blair and Robertson, XX, 138–140.Note 25 · Recopilación, 2–15–34; 5–12–24; 2–16–29.Note 26 · Ibid., 2–2–70.Note 27 · Ibid., 3–2–45; 2–16–29.Note 28 · Although a sufficient number of oidores were usually present in Manila to suffice for the judicial needs of the audiencia, on many occasionsNote 29 · Recopilación, 2–16–30.Note 30 · Ibid., 3–2–67.Note 31 · Ibid., 2–15–173 and 174.Note 32 · Ibid., 3–3–70.Note 33 · Ibid., 3–14–6, 7; Felipe III to Fajardo, December 13, 1620, Blair and Robertson, XIX, 174–175.Note 34 · Recopilación, 3–14–5, 6, 8.Note 35 · Ibid., 2–16–59, 62 to 64; 3–3–39. A confirmation of the latter was so often reported that it seems to have been expected, and nothing was doNote 36 · Felipe IV to Fajardo, October 9, 1623, Blair and Robertson, XX, 259; Recopilación, 2–16–66, 67.Note 37 · Recopilación, 2–15–36, 39, 40.Note 38 · Ibid., 2–16–82 to 84.Note 39 · Ibid., 87.Note 40 · Ibid., 82, note 20 (Cédula of January 23, 1754).Note 41 · Cédula of July 13, 1789, A. I., 107–5–20. On June 21, 1784, the Council of the Indies recommended that permission to marry within his distriNote 42 · Royal order of April 3, 1848; Rodríguez San Pedro, Legislación ultramarina, VII, 79.Note 43 · Royal order of December 2, 1804, A. I., 106–4–18.Note 44 · Royal decree of October 13, 1806, A. I., 106–4–18.Note 45 · Laws of May 3, 1605 and September 5, 1620, Recopilación, 2–16–43 and 44.Note 46 · This was done, for example, by governors Fajardo and Bustamante, while this law was still in force (1618–1624 and 1717–1719, respectively). Note 47 · Ibid., note 14.Note 48 · Ibid., 2–16–51.Note 49 · Discussed in Chapter IV of this treatise.Note 50 · Governors, captains-general, and viceroys were assisted by an asesor, or legal adviser, who gave his opinion in all matters of law that cameNote 51 · Recopilación, 2–15–61 to 63, 169; 2–16–12, 31, 32.Note 52 · Ibid., 2–15–38.Note 53 · Ibid., 3–3–36, 38.Note 54 · Ibid., 3–3–60. Relative to the relations of the viceroys and audiencias of the Spanish colonies, Robertson (The History of America, IV, 19–2Note 55 · Recopilación. 3–3–27, promulgated July 19, 1614, conferred general pardoning power on the viceroy.Note 56 · Regent to the King, July 9, 1793, A. I., 106–4–18; Cédula of October 24, 1803, A. I., 105–2–10.Note 57 · Royal decree of July 4, 1861, Colección legislativa, LXXXVI, 1–45.Note 58 · Recopilación, 3–3–65. It is to be noted that the New Laws of 1542 conferred on the audiencias the duty of protecting the Indians. Professor Note 59 · Ibid., 53.Note 60 · Ibid., 3–3–61; 3–4–7. We have a notable illustration of this in the banishment of Archbishop Poblete by Governor Salcedo (1663–1668) as a reNote 61 · Ibid., 2–16–8.Note 62 · Ibid., 3–3–58; King to Audiencia, March 6, 1781, A. I., 105–2–9.Note 63 · Instruction to Tello, May 25, 1596, Blair and Robertson, IX, 229, 232–233, 238–239.Note 64 · Recopilación, 1–14–29 to 31.Note 65 · Ibid., 31.Note 66 · King to the Audiencia, March 6, 1781, A. I., 105–2–9.Note 67 · Recopilación, 3–3–45.Note 68 · This is treated in the first chapter of this book. See Solórzano, Política Indiana, II, 271–279.Note 69 · Recopilación, 2–15–11.Note 70 · Constitution of 1812, Martínez Alcubilla, III, 408 et seq.; Acuerdo for the promulgation of the Constitution of 1812, Montero y Vidal, III, Note 71 · Ordinances enacted by the Audiencia of Manila, June 13 to December 19, 1598, Blair and Robertson, X, 293–316; Ordinances etc., January 7, toNote 72 · Blair and Robertson, L, 191–264; see, also, Montero y Vidal, Historia general, I, 380–385, also correspondence relative to the modificationsNote 73 · Acuerdo of January 15, 1814, A. I., 106–4–19; see also Montero y Vidal, Historia general, III, 404; 430.Note 74 · Carvajal to the King, December 5, 1785, A. I., 107–5–14; Carvajal to the Audiencia of Manila, December 29, 1787, A. I., 107–5–15; TestimonioNote 75 · King to the Audiencia, August 13, 1793, A. I., 105–2–10.Note 76 · Recopilación, 3–2–70 (after 1680), 67.Note 77 · Rodríguez San Pedro, Legislación ultramarina, VII, 67.Note 78 · Mas, “Internal political condition of the Philippines,” in Blair and Robertson, LII, 70–73. Mas was a Spanish diplomatic official stationed Note 79 · Governor Torres to the Queen, March 18, 1835, A. I., 106–4–21.Note 80 · Colección legislativa de España, LXXXVI, 1–45. Elliott, in his Philippines to the end of the military regime, p. 242, states incorrectly thaNote 81 · Instruction of the King to Governor Acuña, February 16, 1602, Blair and Robertson, XI, 263–88.Note 82 · Fray Sánchez, in his memorial of July 26, 1586, stated that the audiencia had stopped the practice of conceding encomiendas (A. I., 67–6–27)Note 83 · Mas, “Internal political conditions of the Philippines, 1842,” Blair and Robertson, LII, 69–70 and note. The keen observations of this officNote 84 · Recopilación, 5–12–22; 2–15–35; 36, 41.Note 85 · Ibid., 3–3–51.Note 86 · Ibid., 2–15–35, 36, 41; 3–3–2, 34, 42; 3–14–1; 5–12–22.Note 87 · The official title of the governor of the Philippines up to 1861 was governor, captain-general, and president of the royal audiencia.1 a comNote 88 · Generally speaking, the governor of the Philippines occupied the same relative position, within and without the colony, as did the viceroy iNote 89 · The Philippine Islands were constituted a kingdom and placed under the charge of a governor and captain general, whose powers were truly royNote 90 · The governors of these Islands have absolute authority to provide and to attend to all that pertains to the royal estate, government, war; tNote 91 · The governors of these Islands [he wrote] are almost absolute, and are like private masters of them. They exercise supreme authority, by reaNote 92 · They were instructed, in short, to do all for the provinces under their charge6 that the king, himself, might do. The laws of the Indies ordNote 93 · Foremost among the responsibilities of the executive was that of supervising the administration of the colonial exchequer. In this, however,Note 94 · Although the appointing power was claimed by many governors as their sole prerogative, the audiencia imposed a very decided check on their eNote 95 · The audiencia intervened in the matter of appointments in two ways. In case it succeeded to the government on the death of the governor the Note 96 · As already stated, the king retained the right to appoint certain so-called “officials of royal designation.” These varied at different timeNote 97 · When a vacancy occurred among the offices of royal designation, it was the governor’s duty to forward a list of candidates, or nominees, andNote 98 · In an instruction directed exclusively to the Philippine audiencia, the king ordered the tribunal to see that offices were bestowed only upoNote 99 · Vacancies in the audiencia itself were filled temporarily by the governor. In case the audiencia were governing ad interim it could designatNote 100 · The audiencia was required to see that the appointees designated by the governor duly complied with the requirements of residencia; likewiseNote 101 · Closely related to the appointing power was the duty which the governor had of submitting annually to the court a list of all the officials Note 102 · Typical of the governor’s authority over all the officials of the colony, and incidentally over the oidores, was his power to grant or withhNote 103 · It seems that the above prohibition did not apply with the same force to fiscales as to magistrates. This is illustrated by a case which aroNote 104 · This law still left the trial of oidores for misdemeanors in the governor’s jurisdiction, but in cases of sedition or notorious offenses whiNote 105 · Aside from his executive and military duties, the governor was president of the royal audiencia. This arrangement had the advantage of givinNote 106 · As president of the audiencia the governor exercised two important powers. One authorized him to divide the audiencia into salas and to desiNote 107 · While the magistrates were allowed to proceed practically without interference in affairs of justice, the governor was instructed to keep hiNote 108 · After the creation of the office of regent in the audiencias of the colonies, in 1776, the governor’s position as president of the audienciaNote 109 · We have already noted that the governor exercised special judicial powers, independent of the audiencia. Among these the military jurisdictiNote 110 · The laws of the Indies would seem to indicate that both the governor and the audiencia exercised independently the power to exile undesirablNote 111 · Closely related to the governor’s jurisdiction over banishment was his jurisdiction over cases of persons entering the Islands or departing Note 112 · Besides his judicial authority the governor shared legislative functions with the audiencia. We have noted in an earlier chapter that the acNote 113 · The laws of the Indies established the governor as the sole executive, and forbade the audiencia to interfere with the government.69 The govNote 114 · In the same manner the acuerdo came to be recognized in governmental and administrative matters. The enactments of these legislative sessionNote 115 · There were many occasions in the history of the Islands when the acuerdo was influential in the formulation of far-reaching reforms. The welNote 116 · There were occasions when the audiencia enacted administrative measures in which the governor failed to participate. These were especially nNote 117 · The audiencia was deprived of its acuerdo power in governmental matters by the Constitution of 1812, but it was still retained in judicial aNote 118 · Typical of the multitudinous duties of the governor, and illustrative at the same time of his relations with the audiencia, were the variousNote 119 · The king warned Acuña against a continuation of the dishonesty of past governors in the lading of ships for New Spain. He declared that therNote 120 · To set some balance to his power (that of the governor), because of the distance from the throne, certain privileges and preëminences have bNote 121 · It is clear, therefore, that the decision of the governor was not final in administrative affairs. Persons dissatisfied with his executive aNote 122 · It was prescribed, however, that when there were differences of opinion between the governor and the audiencia an effort should be made bothNote 123 · According to the laws of the Indies the governor, as executive, had his own sphere in which the oidores were forbidden to interfere.86 In th
Explore with AITake your curiosity a little further.
ChatGPTPerplexityGrok

Reading settings