Page:C. Cunningham- "The Institutional Background of Spanish American History".djvu/6

Rh of 1255 and 1274. These enactments defined the duties of no less than three types of adelantados. The frontier adelantado has been noticed in this paper already. The provincial adelantado was mentioned in the law referred to as having been in charge of the larger and nearer provinces of Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Galicia. He was at the same time provincial governor, judge, and captain-general. Possibly the most far-reaching and charteristic feature of this office was the requirement that the adelantado should be accompanied on his tours of inspection by letrados or asesores—men of legal training, who should advise him in all questions of law, and assume responsibility for all his official acts of an administrative or judicial character. The adelantados were not trained lawyers or administrators, but soldiers—the predecessors of the colonial captains-general. They were empowered, however, to render legal opinions and dispense justice on the advice of, and by the assistance of the letrados. The asesor or teniente letrado played an important rôle subsequently in the administration of justice in the colonies. Supported and accompanied by one of these lawyers, a governor, a captain-general, a viceroy, an intendant, or an alcalde mayor who was not familiar with the law or with legal procedure, rendered decisions in cases wherein affairs of momentous import were involved. He acted without responsibility, entirely on the authority of his legal assistant, who had to answer in the residencia for all administrative acts or judicial decisions made in pursuance to the advice given.

The third type of adelantado specified in the ordinance of 1274 was the adelantado mayor. This magistrate, in contradistinction to the provincial adelantado, was a lawyer, and his activities were confined exclusively to the exercise of judicial functions. He was not accompanied, therefore, by an asesor. He was a peregrinating magistrate, holding court in different parts of the