Page:C. Cunningham- "The Institutional Background of Spanish American History".djvu/8

Rh of provincial administration, in Spain, it is sufficient to say that certain institutions of justice and administration developed in common throughout the Peninsula, and that by the end of the thirteenth century political and judicial administration had come to be controlled by a central authority whether in Castile or in Catalonia. In the Ordinance of Toro, in 1369, we find mention of four grades or instances for the administration of justice in Spain. The lowest category was occupied by the alcaldes ordinarios of the municipalities. We have noted already that these were local judges, with original jurisdiction, and dependent on the municipal councils. The merinos exercised royal and original jurisdiction in certain feudal districts and provinces where there were no municipalities. The adelantados heard appeals from the merinos and alcaldes mayores. These officials, it must be remembered, exercised administrative functions as well as judicial authority, and for the latter work they were accompanied by asesores, or legal assistants. The next step in the hierarchy of justice and administration was occupied by the adelantados mayores, who stood between the adelantados, on the one hand, and the king's tribunal on the other. The king and royal audiencia constituted the final court of appeal.

Before passing to a consideration of the institutions of the later periods, it is fitting to note the existence at the close of the fourteenth century (1369) of four officials who assumed a prominent part in Spanish domestic and colonial administration. The alcalde mayor appears first in 1371, as a royal municipal judge. He differed from the ordinary alcalde in that he derived his power from the king instead of the municipality. The corregidor appears at the same time as a royal judge, unassigned to any particular province, but empowered to make reforms and correct abuses in the name of the king. As is well known, both these offices were carried to the colonies, both being agents of