Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/272

 22. Money for the prisoner's food, for the expenses of his journey, according to his station, and for his bedding and clothes, must be taken entirely from his estates; and if he has none, let such of his goods be sold as will inflict least damage upon him, to the amount necessary, at a public auction before a notary or a royal scrivener. No officer or agent of the Holy Office shall take anything from the said sale, either personally or through agents—a command which is general in all cases when goods are sold by the Holy Office, whether they are sequestrated or not. To better ascertain which of the goods would cause him least damage, it will be advisable to consult the opinion and desire of the interested party.

23. All that has been said thus far concerning the acceptance of denunciations, and the reference of cases, prisoners, and proceedings to the Holy Office, does not apply to the Indians—against whom the commissary shall not proceed for the present, but shall leave them to the jurisdiction of the ordinary. Cases involving them are not to be referred to us. All other cases, in which mestizos, mulattoes, and Spaniards, of all classes, are involved, shall be tried exclusively by the Holy Office rather than by the ordinary courts, as specified in the fourth clause of these instructions.

24. The Holy Office is wont to issue edicts—as, for instance, the general edict concerning matters of the faith, and other specific ones—for the prohibition and seizure of certain books. The public reading of these edicts is of the utmost importance, having the force of a notarial summons. It always takes place