Note 63 — Chapter III · THE JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE AUDIENCIA

Records of thousands of cases exist to show the different kinds of suits tried judicially in the audiencia. Civil and criminal matters came up in the tribunal as in all other courts of law, and hence, as such, merit only passing attention. Among civil cases possibly the most typical were those relating to encomiendas. It must be borne in mind that the Spaniard, however mistakenly from the theoretical point of view, regarded the encomiendas as property in the same sense as a modern farmer regards his farm as property. He paid a rental or tax to the government, he engaged in agriculture for gain, and, as we have seen, the moral duty of protecting, uplifting, or educating the Indians rested but lightly on his conscience. Therefore, as these cases are discussed in the following pages, the value of the property and not the treatment of the Indians on the encomiendas is the first consideration. As already stated, the law of Malines reserved for the Council of the Indies final action in all encomienda suits involving more than one thousand ducats.63