Before me:
Pedro Hurtado Desquibel
An act decreeing that the royal official judges in the fulfilment of their duties shall observe the instructions, decrees, and ordinances of his Majesty.
In the city of Manila, on the nineteenth of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of these Philipinas Islands declared that, whereas by the ordinances, decrees, and instructions of his Majesty, orders have been given to the official judges of the royal exchequer of these islands, regarding their obligations in the exercise and discharge of their duties, and, because it is fitting that his Majesty's orders in those decrees be observed and fulfilled, they ordered, and they did so order, that the said royal officials should be notified that in the exercise of their offices they should observe the said royal ordinances, decrees, and instructions of the king our sovereign, who has given them, as they are held, exercised, and observed, and as they must be exercised and observed, by the royal official judges of the City of Mexico in Nueva España, especially section seventeen of the said royal ordinance. By this act they so provided, ordered, and decreed.
Before me: Pedro Hurtado Desquibel
An act ordering the commissioners to be present at all sessions of the Audiencia.
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands declared that, whereas, although by the royal ordinances the commissioners of this royal Audiencia are obliged to be present at the assemblies, they are not there; and thus many cases that come up, both civil and criminal, are delayed in settlement, so that considerable harm and annoyance result to the parties concerned; and furthermore, that official and fiscal cases are delayed, because the said commissioners to all appearances do not employ therein the necessary diligence: therefore, to remedy this condition of affairs, they decreed and ordered that, now and henceforth, all the said commissioners, unless they have legitimate occupation or obstacle, shall be present without fail in the hall at all the sessions of the Audiencia with the greatest punctuality, so that in all matters there may be the prompt action which is desirable, under penalty of a fine of one peso from him who shall disobey this decree, the fine to be applied immediately upon condemnation, in this manner—six reals to the poor in the prisons, and two for the bailiff who has to execute the decree. By this act they so provided, ordered, and decreed.
Before me: Pedro Hurtado Desquibel
An act decreeing that orders shall be given regarding the sworn memoranda of the collector of fines.
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-first of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of these Philipinas Islands declared that, whereas Pedro Fernandez de Sanctofimia, attorney in the cases of the Audiencia, is appointed by this royal Audiencia to collect its fines, and ordered to assess the fines imposed upon its officials and other persons who do not observe the royal ordinances, and all other ordinances, decrees, and provisions, to the amount that must be levied for each fine—for, by not executing the penalties thereof daily, there are many oversights and no little remissness in the fulfilment of each one's obligations: therefore, in order that the requisite system be observed in everything, they decreed that, by giving the said Pedro Fernandez de Sanctofimia the present sworn memorandum of fines to be imposed upon everyone, he shall immediately receive his orders thereby regarding what he is commanded to levy for each fine. The latter he shall do immediately, as the said memorandum shall indicate, without any investigation or mandate preceding. The orders that he shall so give shall be executed by the bailiff or alguazil of this royal Audiencia, whenever they shall be issued. Whatever the latter shall collect he shall deliver to the said collector of fines, who shall take charge of it, and enter it carefully in a book, that he may give strict and clear account of each fine collected. And they charged each other's consciences with the fulfilment of all the above. By this act they so provided, ordered, and decreed.