Note 7 — Chapter IX · THE AUDIENCIA AND THE GOVERNOR: THE AD INTERIM RULE

The defects referred to above in connection with the government of the Audiencia of Santa Fé did not deter the Spanish crown from founding the Audiencia of Charcas in 1559. This tribunal, “like the audiencias established elsewhere, exercised not only judicial, but also administrative powers.”7 It had jurisdiction over the neighboring city of Potosí. Again we may note the case of the Audiencia of Santiago de Chile, which was established on August 27, 1565. Its members arrived in 1567 and the audiencia was installed at Concepción “as the supreme court of the colony, and, at the same time, in accordance with the royal decree, it became the administrative head of the government. In this latter capacity it undertook to reorganize the military forces.” Later, in 1568, Melchoir Bravo de Saravia assumed the office and functions of the governorship of Chile (1568–1575) and the audiencia became a judicial tribunal, without other attributes.8