Note 1 — Chapter VII · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: THE MILITARY JURISDICTION

It was the policy of the government throughout the history of the Islands to conserve and keep intact the governor’s military jurisdiction. We have noted in an earlier chapter that one of the main reasons for the suppression of the audiencia in 1589 was that it interfered too extensively with the military jurisdiction of the governor. During the decade following the extinction of the tribunal, the military governors were given almost unlimited powers, until their abuses led to the re-establishment of the tribunal to guard against these excesses. We shall see in the following chapter that the limitations placed upon them by the audiencia were always a source of complaint by the various governors. Governor Acuña went so far as to recommend the suppression of the tribunal because the needs of the colony were military and had to be met by the firm action of a soldier, without the interference of a body of magistrates.1 Similar recommendations were made by a majority of the succeeding governors, but more especially by Fajardo, Corcuera, Vargas, Arandía, and even by Anda who had risen from the post of oidor to that of governor and military commander.2