VIII. of its legiflators; and having acquired a fpecies BOOK of dominion formerly unknown, they formed a plan for exercising it, to which nothing similar occurs in the hiftory of human affairs. and proper the crown. THE fundamental maxim of Spanish jurifpru- All power dence, with respect to America, is to confider ty vested in what has been acquired there as vested in the crown, rather than in the state. By the bull of Alexander VI. on which, as its great charter, Spain founded its right, all the regions that had been, or fhould be difcovered, were beftowed as a free gift upon Ferdinand and Isabella. They and their fucceffors were uniformly held to be the univerfal proprietors of the vast territories, which the arms of their fubjects conquered in the New World. From them all grants of land there flowed, and to them they finally returned. The leaders who conducted the various expeditions, the governors who prefided over the different colonies, the officers of justice, and the minifters of religion, were all appointed by their authority, and removable at their pleafure. The people who compofed infant fettlements were entitled to no privileges independent of the fovereign, or that ferved as a barrier against the power of the crown. It is true, that when towns were built, and formed into bodies corporate, the citizens were permitted to elect VIII. BOOK their own magiftrates, who governed them by laws which the community enacted. Even in the most defpotic ftates, this feeble spark of liberty is not extinguished. But in the cities of Spanish America, this jurifdiction is merely municipal, and is confined to the regulation of their own interior commerce and police. In whatever relates to public government, and the general intereft, the will of the fovereign is law. No political power originates from the people. All centres in the crown, and in the officers of its nomination. All the new dominions of Spain fubjected to two vice. Luys. WHEN the conquefts of the Spaniards in America were completed, their monarchs, in forming the plan of internal policy for their new dominions, divided them into two immenfe governments, one fubject to the viceroy of New Spain, the other to the viceroy of Peru. The jurifdiction of the former extended over all the provinces belonging to Spain in the northern division of the American continent. Under that of the latter, was comprehended whatever fhe poffeffed in South America. This arrangement, which, from the beginning, was attended with many inconveniencies, became intolerable when the remote provinces of each vice-royalty began to improve in industry and population. The people complained of their fubjection to a supe VIII. powers. rior, whofe place of refidence was fo diftant, or BOOK fo inacceffible, as almost excluded them from any intercourse with the feat of government. The authority of the viceroy over diftricts fo far removed from his own eye and obfervation, was unavoidably both feeble and ill directed. As a remedy for those evils, a third viceroyalty has been established in the prefent century, at Santo Fé de Bogota, the capital of the new kingdom of Granada, the jurisdiction of which extends over the whole kingdom of Tierra Firmè, and the province of Quito. Thofe Their viceroys not only reprefent the person of their fovereign, but poffefs his regal prerogatives within the precincts of their own governments, in their utmost extent. Like him, they exercise fupreme authority in every department of government, civil, military, and criminal. They have the fole right of nominating the perfons who hold many offices of the highest importance, and the occafional privilege of fupplying thofe which, when they become vacant by death, are in the royal gift, until the fucceffor appointed by the king fhall arrive. The external pomp of their government is fuited to its real dignity and power. Their courts are formed upon the model of that at Madrid, with horfe and foot i Voy. de Ulloa, i. 23. 255. guards, VIII. BOOK guards, a household regularly established, numerous attendants, and enfigns of command, difplaying fuch magnificence, as hardly retains the appearance of delegated authority *. Courts of BUT as the viceroys cannot discharge in perfon the functions of a fupreme magistrate in every part of their extenfive jurifdiction, they are aided in their government by officers and tribunals fimilar to thofe in Spain. The conduc of civil affairs in the various provinces and districts, into which the Spanish dominions in America are divided, is committed to magistrates of various orders and denominations; fome appointed by the king, others by the viceroy, but all fubject to the command of the latter, and amenable to his jurifdiction. The adminiftration of justice is vested in tribunals, known by the name of Audiences, and formed upon the model of the court of Chancery in Spain. These are eleven in number, and dispense justice to as many districts, into which the Spanish dominions in America are divided'. The number of judges in the court of Audience is various, according to the extent and importance of their jurifdiction. The ftation is no less honourable than lucrative, and is commonly filled by perfons Ulloa, Voy. i. 432. Gage 61. See NOTE VII. of VIII. diction. of fuch abilities and merit as renders this tribunal BOOK extremely respectable. Both civil and criminal caufes come under their cognizance, and for each peculiar judges are fet apart. Though it Their jurif is only in the most defpotic governments, that the fovereign exercises in person the formidable prerogative of adminiftering juftice to his fubjects, and in abfolving, or condemning, confults no law but what is depofited in his own breaft; though, in all the monarchies of Europe, judicial authority is committed to magistrates, whose decifions are regulated by known laws and established forms, the Spanish viceroys have often attempted to intrude themselves into the feat of justice, and with an ambition which their distance from the controul of a fuperior rendered bold, have afpired at a power which their mafter does not venture to affume. In order to check an ufurpation which must have annihilated justice and security in the Spanish colonies, by fubjecting the lives and property of all to the will of a fingle man, the viceroys have been prohibited, in the most explicit terms, by repeated laws, from interfering in the judicial proceedings of the courts of Audience, or from delivering an opinion, or giving a voice with respect to any point litigated before them". In fome particular m Recop. lib. ii. tit. xv. 1. 35. 38. 44. lib. iii. tit. iii. 1, 36, 37. cafes, |