Note 51 — Chapter VI · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: GENERAL RELATIONS

As president of the audiencia the governor exercised two important powers. One authorized him to divide the audiencia into salas and to designate oidores to try cases within the tribunal, to inspect the provinces, to take residencias, or to attend to semi-administrative matters, such as have been noted in the preceding chapter.51 The other was the power to decide whether a contention was of judicial, governmental, military, or ecclesiastical character, and to assign it to the proper department or tribunal.52 This power was significant because it made the governor the supreme arbiter between all conflicting authorities in the colony. Frequently he decided disputes between the audiencia and the ecclesiastical courts, between the audiencia and the consulado, or between the oidores and the oficiales reales in matters relative to the jurisdiction of these tribunals over questions at issue.