Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 05).djvu/315

 Penalty: double the amount in question to the exchequer.]

170. [They must write the decisions of the court by their own hands, especially in affairs of importance, as secrets would not be safe with minor officials. Penalty: six pesos to the court-room.]

171. [The clerks of the said Audiencia or of the criminal court shall levy no fees on the cases pleaded before the said president, auditors and alcaldes, to which the fiscal attorneys are a party, even if the decision is for the said fiscals, with judgment of costs against the other party; and they shall not put them on the record, nor collect them from the condemned persons. P.: forty pesos for the chamber of this Audiencia, and payment of twice the amount collected to the exchequer.]

172-202. [These sections give directions with regard to the duties and emoluments of the reporters [relatores], as minute and precise as those for the clerks, with similar penalties. The following sections may be specially noticed:]

176. [Relators are not to ask for cases, but to await the assignment of the bailiffs [porteros].]

179. [Relators are not to buy or sell cases from one another, on pain of dismissal from office.]

189. [The words of witnesses in criminal cases are not to be reported at the public statement of the case, for they are to be seen by the auditors alone, without being entrusted to anyone else. Penalty: thirty pesos to the exchequer.]

192. [Relators and other officers are to live near the Audiencia.]