Note 19 — Chapter VI · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: GENERAL RELATIONS

When a vacancy occurred among the offices of royal designation, it was the governor’s duty to forward a list of candidates, or nominees, and from this list the king, or the Council of the Indies in his name, made a permanent appointment.19 In the meantime a temporary appointment was often made by the governor, in acuerdo with the audiencia, and the name of the appointee was placed first on the list remitted to the court. This procedure was followed in the appointment of encomenderos, corregidores, alcaldes mayores, and treasury officials. It was seldom done in the cases of oidores and fiscales, who, because of their special or professional character, were usually sent directly from Spain or from New Spain. Unless there were special reasons to the contrary, for instance, the filing of an adverse report by the audiencia, or a protest on the part of residents, the governor’s temporary appointments were usually confirmed and made permanent. Temporary appointees with salaries exceeding 1000 pesos a year only received half-salary until their appointments were confirmed.20 At least two years and frequently four transpired before the regular appointment arrived, and as the terms were from three to five years for the majority of these offices, the governor’s candidate was usually the incumbent a considerable portion of the time, whether his nomination were confirmed or not. Neither relatives nor dependents of governors or oidores could be legally appointed to any office.21 This mandate was often violated, as we shall see. It was the duty of the regent and the fiscal to certify to the court that appointees were not relatives of the governor or oidores.22