[488] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., spells these names tacatecatl, acoahunotl, and tlaylotlat; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352, tlacateccatl, quauhnuchtli, and tlaylotlac; and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127, tlacatecatl, quauhnochtli, and tlanótlac, or tlaiíotlac, a defect in the impression makes it difficult to tell which. Scarcely two of the old writers follow the same system of orthography, and in future I shall follow the style which appears simplest, endeavoring only to be consistent with myself.
[489] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128, writes 'Egiornalmente si portava al Cihuacoatl, od al Tlacatecatl per avvertirlo di tutto ciò, che occorreva, e ricever gli ordini da lui;' but it would probably be only in cases of great importance that the reports of the tecuhtli would be carried to the cihuacoatl.
[490] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8.
[491] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354, says that there were fifteen provinces subject to the king of Tezcuco.
[492] The English edition of Clavigero reads: 'the judicial power was divided amongst seven principal cities,' p. 354; but the original agrees with the other authorities: 'nel Regno d'Acolhuacan era la giurisdizione compartita tra sei Città principali.' Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128.
[493] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada, however, asserts that there were 'en la Ciudad de Tetzcuco (que era la Corte) dentro de la Casa Real dos Salas de Consejo ... y en cada Sala dos Jueces. Havia diferencia entre los dichos Jueces; porque los de la vna Sala eran de mas autoridad, que los de la otra; estos se llamaban Jueces maiores, y esotros menores; los maiores oìan de causas graves, y que pertenecian à la determinacion del Rei; los segundos, de otras, no tan graves, sino mas leves, y livianas.' Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. The lower of these two probably either formed one of the six superior courts above mentioned, or corresponded with them in jurisdiction. According to Zurita, 'chacune des nombreuses provinces soumises à ces souverains entretenait à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tlacopan, qui étaient les trois capitales, deux juges, personnes de sens choisies à cet effet, et qui quelquefois étaient parents des souverains,' and adds: 'les appels étaient portés devant douze autres juges supérieurs qui prononçaient d'après l'avis du souverain.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 95, 100.
[494] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355, writes: 'Tenia cada Sala de estas dichas otro Ministro, que hacia oficio de Alguacil Maior,' &c., while other writers assign one to each judge, of whom there were two in each court.
[495] Clavigero differs on this point from other writers, in making this meeting occur every Mexican month of twenty days. Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 101, writes: 'Tous les douze jours il y avait une assemblée générale des juges présidée par le prince;' to this the editor attaches the following note: 'il est évident, comme on le verra page 106, qu'il y a ici une erreur, et que ces assemblées, dont les sessions duraient douze jours, ne se tenaient que tous les quatre-vingts jours.' It is, however, the learned editor who is mistaken, because, as we have seen above, there were two distinct meetings of the judges; a lesser one every ten or twelve days, and a greater every eighty days, and it is of the latter that Zurita speaks on p. 106.
[496] 'Al que él sentenciava le arrojava una flecha de aquellas.' Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 57. 'A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced with an arrow across the portrait of the accused.' Prescott's Mex., vol. i., p. 33.
[497] It is probable that as matters of government, as well as legal affairs, were discussed at their Eighty-Day Council, it was not exclusively composed of judges, but that nobles and statesmen were admitted to membership. Torquemada is, however, the only writer who distinctly states this: 'tenian Audiencia General, que la llamaban Napualtlatolli, como decir, Palabra ochentena, que era Dia, en el qual se juntaban todos los de la Ciudad, y los Asistentes de todas las Provincias, con todo el Pueblo, asi nobles, como Comunes, y Plebeios,' &c. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 244-5, says that the king was accompanied by all his sons and relatives, with their tutors and suites.