Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/566

546 fees like those of every person connected with the law being fixed, and so they conspired with the rest to prolong the litigation. The sheriff received two and a half per cent for levying, and if the amount was not paid within three days ten per cent was to be added. Small fines could, in certain cases, be collected even if notice of appeal had been given.

Aside from the usual causes for crime, there were in New Spain a number of special incentives, such as race antipathy, growing antagonism between castes and classes, slavery, subjection of Indians, isolation of colonists favored partly by mining allurements, and the existence of unsubdued tribes in the mountain regions. The latter features served to maintain the adventurous spirit instilled by conquerors, who still battled on the frontier to extend dominion and settlements; and among a large number lurked the roaming disposition inherited from less settled aborigines. This inclination turned naturally toward highway robbery among the vicious, and the extreme prevalency hereof is generally known. The reader has already become aware how wide-spread was crime in the country, and how more than one viceroy earned the gratitude of the country by energetic measures against it, although these suppressions of evil had but a temporary effect. Decrees against indiscriminate carrying of weapons, and other measures produced little good, and during more than one period extraordinary powers were conferred on inferior judges for dealing with malefactors.

A beneficial step was the introduction, in 1631, of the Santa hermandad, which like its long-established prototype in Spain acted chiefly as thief-catcher, aided by troops whenever necessary. Even this proved insufficient, however, and so the dreaded acordada was