Note 87 — Chapter IV · JUDICIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE AUDIENCIA; THE RESIDENCIA1

See Cédula of July 7, 1860, in Rodríguez San Pedro, Legislación ultramarina, III, 287; royal order of July 25, 1865, ibid., X, 99; royal order of October 25, 1870, Colección legislativa, CV, 442–465.

The eminent authority, Manuel Bernáldez Pizarro, writing from Manila on April 26, 1827, deplored the laxity which was characteristic of the method of conducting trials of residencia, and recommended that they be made more effective and just. He criticized especially the prevailing system of holding the alcaldes mayores to a strict accountability; who, he wrote, “as they have permission to trade, are more tempted to evade or infringe the laws; and many persons are appointed to that office ‘who lack all the qualifications necessary for any public office whatever,’ ... not only have they used their authority to possess themselves of the property of the Indians ... and defrauded the Indians with unjust exactions; but they have humiliated the religious, stolen moneys from the king ... [and] have thrown the provinces into a condition of effervescence and of conspiracy against the government.” (Blair and Robertson, LI, 212, 212–213.) Pizarro recommended a more stringent residencia as a means of remedying these defects.