Note 6 — Appendix: Judicial Condition of the Philippines in 1842

The Leyes de Indias, compiled in 1754, and all the previous decrees and royal orders before that time still rule in Filipinas, in addition to the decrees and edicts of the governor-general. Of all this there is nothing, or very little, printed. The advocates generally know the laws in force by tradition and hear-say, but when they need any of the laws they have to look for it in the house of some friend, or, if not that, in the secretary’s office of the government, whence very frequently it has disappeared, or in the office of the fiscal, or that of the intendant; because some orders are communicated by grace and justice, and others by the treasury or by other ministries. He who has no relatives or is new in the country is ignorant of the rules in force, or has not the means of acquiring them. Besides so far as they are not overthrown by the Leyes de Indias the laws of the Siete Partidas have as much force as do the latest Recopilación,6 Roman law, royal and old law, and, in fact, all the confused mass of the Spanish codes. Consequently, it is a vast sea in which are found abundantly the resources necessary to mix up matters and stultify the course of justice. In English India, a book is printed annually of all the orders which have been communicated to the tribunals and governors. This forms a collection which is entitled The Regulations, which is now being translated into the language of the natives by order of the government.