Note 3 — Letter from Licentiate Alcaraz to Felipe III

The property of deceased persons was carefully guarded by law, as numerous decrees show; see Recopilación de leyes, lib. ix, tit. xiv, which contains twenty-five ordinances, devoted to “the property of persons who have died in the Indias, and its administration and accounts in the House of Trade at Sevilla;” and lib. ii, tit. xxxii, with seventy ordinances regarding “the courts in charge of such property, and its administration and accounts in the Indias, and on vessels of war or trade.” Two of these laws (ley xxii in the former group, and ley lix in the latter) give definite and unqualified command that the funds in the probate treasury shall not be used for any purpose whatsoever, even for the needs of the royal service; and another (ley lx, second group), dated December 13, 1620, commands that the proceeds of estates left by persons dying in the Philippines shall be accounted for and paid (to the heirs) at the royal treasury in the city of Mexico.