Volume 17 — Law VI
Reading edition
It is our will that the trade and commerce of the Filipinas Islands with Nueva España be carried on for the present as ordained. Under no consideration shall the amount of merchandise shipped annually from those islands to Nueva España exceed two Page 31hundred and fifty thousand eight-real pieces, nor the return of principal and profits in money, the five hundred thousand pesos which are permitted—under no pretext, cause, or argument that can be advanced, which is not expressed by a law of this titulo; and the traders shall necessarily be citizens of the Filipinas, as is also ordained. [Felipe II—Madrid, January 11, 1593. Felipe III—December 31, 1604; Madrid, May 4, 1619; Lisboa, September 14, 1619.]