Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/270

 19. Royal magistrates are under obligation to render this assistance, since the request therefor does not require from them any fees, alguacil, or scrivener. The magistrates are also under obligation to receive and keep any prisoner in their jails, to take good care of him, and to account for him, but without exacting therefor any prison-fees. Accordingly the commissary will, when occasion arises, notify the magistrates and request their assistance; and if necessary he will command it, under pain of excommunication and a money fine. Thus he will not be obliged to find another and special prison, and incur the expense of guards. If the rank of the person, and the condition of the prison, and the nature of the crime require a more special and secret prison, on account of the danger that the prisoner may be able to communicate his affairs to other persons, such arrangements are left to the judgment of the commissary, who is charged to see that in these arrests little outcry be made, and that all scandal be avoided.

20. When the criminal is arrested, the commissary shall send him by the first available ship, registering him as being in the shipmaster's charge—commanding the latter (under penalty, if necessary), to take good care of the prisoner until he shall be handed over, at the port of Acapulco, to the commissary who dwells there, who is duly authorized to act. If the prisoner be well-to-do, the commissary shall send at least one hundred pesos' worth of his property, in order to pay for the food that he needs during his imprisonment, and to meet the expenses that he may incur during the journey; otherwise, the commissary shall send whatever sum be may obtain from the property. Since these men who are twice