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Real Audiencia of Guadalajara
The Audiencia and Royal Chancery of Guadalajara or of New Galicia was the highest court and governing entity of the Spanish Crown in the territory of the Kingdom of New Galicia. It was founded by Royal Decree of Emperor Charles V in the year 1544, although it was not consolidated until February 13, 1548, when its ordinances were issued. Its seat was initially established in Compostela de Indias, although it was moved permanently to the city of Guadalajara, seat of the diocese of the same name, from 1560 onward. It initially functioned as a suffragan audiencia of the Real Audiencia of Mexico or of New Spain, as did the audiencias of Santo Domingo, Guatemala and Manila. However, in 1572 it became the only one of these to obtain absolute autonomy from that of Mexico, on the recommendation of the Council of the Indies, which granted the first autonomous presidency to the powerful jurist Jerónimo de Orozco, also Governor and Captain General of the Kingdom of New Galicia. It remained within the limits of viceregal representation, but with special jurisdiction and the addition of new territories from 1574 onward.[1] The Real Audiencia of Guadalajara continued to exist as such until the formation of the First Mexican Empire in 1821, despite seeing its jurisdiction reduced to the Province of Xalisco. Its seat was the palace built by Don Juan de Oñate, later known as the Palacio de Medrano.[2]
Territorial jurisdiction
During its nearly three hundred years of existence, its territories varied enormously as processes of conquest emanating from it were carried out. At its height it comprised the present-day states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Aguascalientes, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Texas, Alta California, Baja California, Baja California Sur and New Mexico. Later, a series of semi-autonomous governorates and kingdoms were formed, such as those of Nueva Vizcaya, Nuevo León and Nuevo Santander, where dioceses suffragan to that of Guadalajara were also established.
The Recopilación de Leyes de Indias of 1680, in Law VII (Audiencia y Chancilleria Real de Guadalaxara de la Galicia en Nueva España) of Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II, sets out the boundaries and officials of this Audiencia:[3]
In the City of Guadalajara of New Galicia there shall reside another of our Audiencias and Royal Chanceries, with a President and four Oidors, who shall also be Alcaldes of Crime; a Fiscal; an alguacil mayor; a Lieutenant of the Grand Chancellor; and the other Ministers and Officials necessary; and it shall have as its district the Province of New Galicia, those of Culiacan, Copala, Colima and Zacatula, and the Towns of Avalos, bordering: to the East on the Audiencia of New Spain; to the South on the South Sea; and to the West and North on Provinces neither discovered nor pacified. And the President of the said Audiencia of Guadalajara, and not the Oidores, shall hold the government of its district, and in his absence the said Audiencia of Guadalajara, notwithstanding any Cédula by which the Oidores of the said Audiencia may have been granted participation in the government together with the Presidents, which we revoke, quash and annul. And we command that this our law be kept, as it is contained therein; and as regards the government of war and the treasury, they shall keep the orders that We have given.
Numerous campaigns of conquest were launched from its capital, as well as the establishment of mining camps, settlements, presidios and colonies, expanding its territory by virtue of the conquests and victorious campaigns of exploration.
From 1789 onward, royal ordinances imposed the adoption of the system of intendancies, based on the French centralist model. On the recommendation of the visitador José de Gálvez, numerous territories, reconfigured in their organization, were removed from the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia to make them dependent on Mexico City. During the Cortes of Cádiz, the tapatío canon José Simeón de Uría y Berrueco, vice-president of the Cortes, proposed restoring the arrangement that had existed prior to the eighteenth-century breakup, beginning with the restitution of the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese of Guadalajara over the newly autonomous territories, but he did not obtain sufficient support for its implementation. With the adherence of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara to the Plan of Iguala in 1821, its jurisdiction came within the limits of the First Mexican Empire, and from then on it lost the former privileges granted to it by the Spanish Crown since the times of the conquest.
Government
Initially, the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara, still dependent on that of Mexico, was composed of four oidores, who in turn obtained the office of alcaldes mayores of New Galicia,[4] with authorization to carry the staff of justice. Their function was to act as judges of first instance, as well as to make visits to towns and new foundations and to appoint corregidores and alcaldes mayores.[2]
On April 30, 1572, the reorganization of the audiencia was proposed in adaptation of the Ordinances of Monzón of 1563. The task was entrusted to Doctor Jerónimo de Orozco, who arrived with broad powers granted by the Council of the Indies after his prominent role in carrying out the expedition of Legazpi and Urdaneta as one of the four oidors of the Real Audiencia of Mexico who exercised interim royal representation in the Viceroyalty of New Spain during the two years that elapsed from the death in office of Viceroy Luis de Velasco "the Elder" until the arrival of his successor, Viceroy Marquis of Falces. Under the orders of Orozco, himself a doctor of canon law, the system of four oidores-alcaldes was abolished and replaced by a high court composed of jurists and presided over by Orozco himself as Governor and Captain General of the kingdom. The transformation of the court of first instance into a superior court with absolute independence from that of Mexico was established, as was the Royal Chancery, in imitation of those of Valladolid and Granada. Under this process the offices of president, fiscal, alguacil mayor, notary, rapporteur, distributor, appraiser, lawyer, procurator, receiver, doorkeeper, warden and interpreter were established,[2] which were granted to jurists.
Presidents of the Real Audiencia of Guadalajara
- Jerónimo de Orozco (1572-1580)
- Hernando de Robles (1580)
- Diego García de Valverde (1587)
- Diego de Alfaro (1591)
- Santiago de Vera (1593)
- Juan de Villela (1607-1610)
- Alonso Pérez Merchán (1611)
- Pedro de Otalora (1618)
- Alberto de Acuña (1625)
- Jerónimo de Paz (1627)
- Diego Núñez Morqueño (1628)
- Alonso Pérez de Salazar (1633)
- Juan de Canseco (1636)
- Pedro Fernández de Baeza (1641-1653)
- Antonio de Ulloa (1654)
- Antonio Álvarez de Castro (1662)
- Francisco Calderón (1670)
- Juan Miguel de Agurto (1673)
- Diego Nicolás del Puerto (1677)
- Alonso de Ceballos (1678)
- Antonio Vidal-Abarca (1700)
References
- ↑ "GUADALAJARA - Audiencia de Guadalajara". PARES (in español). Retrieved 2021-06-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Perry, John H. (1938-08). "The Ordinances of the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 18 (3): 364. doi:10.2307/2507153. ISSN 0018-2168. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias (1680). Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias (PDF) (in español).
- ↑ "GUADALAJARA - Audiencia de Guadalajara". PARES (in español). Retrieved 2021-06-14.
