Note 1 — Chapter I · THE AUDIENCIAS OF THE SPANISH COLONIES

The purpose of the present chapter is to emphasize the fact that, these institutions which had served in Spain, and were still in process of development there, were utilized in all of the colonies. The Philippine audiencia, which will be more particularly studied in subsequent chapters, was not a rare and isolated exception, but rather an integral part of a great administrative system.1 This will more clearly appear from a sketch of the early development of colonial administration.