Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/338

194 194 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE. PART ing. But the royal audience, or chancery, the '■ — supreme and final court of appeal in civil causes, was entirely remodelled. The place of its sittings, before indeterminate, and consequently occasioning much trouble and cost to the litigants, was fixed at Valladolid. Laws were passed to protect the tri- bunal from the interference of the crown, and the queen was careful to fill the bench with magis- trates, whose wisdom and integrity would afford the best guaranty for a faithful interpretation of the law.^' In the cortes of Madrigal (1476), and still more in the celebrated one of Toledo (1480), many excellent provisions were made for the equitable administration of justice, as well as for regulating the tribunals. The judges were to ascertain every week, either by personal inspection, or report, the condition of the prisons, the number of the prisoners, and the nature of the offences, for which they were confined. They were required to bring them to a speedy trial, and afford every facility for their defence. An attorney was provided at the public expense, under the title of " advocate for the poor," whose duty it was to defend the suits of such as were unable to maintain them at their own 13 Ordenancas Reales, lib. 2, tit. traced the remissness and comip- 4. — Marina, Teoria de las Cortes, lion, too frequent of late in the part. 2, cap. 25. court, to the circumstance that its By one of the statutes, (ley 4,) decisions were not liable to be rc- the commission of the judges, viewed during life. (Teoria, ubi which before extended to life, or a supra.) The legislature probably long period, was abridged to one mistook the true cause of tiie evil, year. This important innovation Few will doubt, at any rate, that was made at the earnest and re- the remedy proposed must have peated remonstrance of cortes, who been fraught with far greater.