Note 27 — Chapter XIII · (continued 2)

May 21, 1840, Governor Lardizábal communicated to the Audiencia a royal order of October 4, 1839, in regard to the necessary conditions to be observed for the introduction and circulation of books in the islands, the previous designation of those deserving censure, given by his Majesty’s fiscal, a censor being later appointed by the government, and another by the archbishop, the fiscal again reviewing the qualification and the censure; and if “it should result that there was sufficient grounds to prohibit the circulation of any work, because it contains principles, maxims, and doctrines contrary to the rights of the legitimate throne, or to the religion of the State, the book is not only to be taken back, but shipped back immediately.” In case of dispute between the two censors, the fiscal was to decide (royal order, November 19, 1840). See Montero y Vidal, iii, pp. 29, 30. ↑