Note 58 — Chapter VI · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: GENERAL RELATIONS

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 Moses, in his Spanish dependencies in South America, I, (212–3), says: “The audiencias were commanded to inquire into the treatment which the Indians had received at the hands of governors and private persons; and, in case of excesses and ill-treatment, the guilty parties should be punished.... While it was acknowledged that some persons had a sufficient title to hold Indians, it was ordered that when the number held was excessive, the audiencia should gather the necessary information and reduce the allotments made to the said persons in a fair and moderate quantity ‘and place the rest under the Crown’.”