Law L
The commander and officers whom the governor of Filipinas appoints for the ships sailing to Nueva España, shall not be aided with pay for more than four months, both in Méjico and Filipinas. At the termination of the trip, their accounts shall be balanced, and the remainder for the time while they shall have served, and no more, shall be paid them. [Felipe IV—Madrid, December 14, 1630.]
Law XIII
Our fiscal of the Audiencia of Filipinas shall, according to the settled custom, be present at the inspection of ships which is made in the port of Manila, on those ships which come from Nueva España and other parts; and he shall denounce those which carry more than what is permitted. The judges who shall try the cause shall apply the merchandise denounced to our royal exchequer, and shall punish the guilty rigorously. [Felipe III—Madrid, May 4, 1619; Felipe IV—Madrid, March 25, 1633.]
Law LXXIII
In the court trials regarding the seizures of smuggled goods from China which shall be seized in Perú, what shall pertain to the denouncers—namely, their third part—shall be paid to them immediately in money, provided it does not pass or exceed that ordered by laws of título 17, libro 8, which treat of seizures of smuggled goods, irregularities, and confiscations; and provided that the money be not taken from our royal treasury under any consideration, but from expenses of justice or fines forfeited to the treasury, or from the proceeds from merchandise or other articles which generally come with those that are contraband and outside the register, which are not from China, or of those prohibited to be sold or traded in Perú. We charge the viceroys to advise us on all occasions, with specification, of these denunciations, and of the part given to the denouncer, and in what quantity and kind, making us a clear and distinct relation. [Felipe IV—Madrid, March 31, 1633.]
Law XXXI
It was ordered that the ships that go from Nueva España to Filipinas must sail from the port of Acapulco by the end of March, without extending even a day into April. And inasmuch as we are informed that that is inconvenient, we order that the ships be prepared with all that is necessary by December, so that at the end of that month, they may leave the said port of Acapulco, so that they may be able to arrive at the said islands, at the latest, some time in March. It is our will that this be executed inviolably, and it will be made a charge of omission in the residencia of the viceroys of Nueva España; and, if they do not so do, we shall consider ourselves disserved. [Felipe IV—Madrid, August 26, 1633.]
Law XXV
We order the viceroys of Nueva España to give the necessary orders, and to take suitable precautions, that the provision which is made annually for the departure of the ships which sail from the port of Acapulco to Filipinas be made there very seasonably, so that the ships may not be detained, or those who are to embark suffer because of the short time allowed for departure or the inadequate provision of food. [Felipe IV—Madrid, September 30, 1633.]