I4-IO 
 
 PRIESTLEY 
 
 SPANISH COLONIAL 
 MUNICIPALITIES 
 
 BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
YfM^ 
 
 Mmy/cr^ of California • Berkeley 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/colonialspanishmOOprierich 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 By Herbert Ingram Priestley, Ph. D. 
 
 Librarian of the Bancroft Library and Associate Professor of Mexican History 
 in the University of California 
 
i'O 
 
 Reprint from The Louisiana Historical Quarterly 
 April, 1922. 
 
 SPANISH COLONIAL MUNICIPALITIES 
 
 By Herbert Ingram Priestley, Ph. D. 
 
 Librarian of the Bancroft Library and Associate Professor of 
 Mexican History in the University of California. 
 
 This article was originally printtd in the California Law Review for September, 
 1919, and translated into Spanish by Genaro Estrada and published as Municipali- 
 dades cnloniales espanolas, Mexico, 1921. It is republished by the Louisiana His- 
 torical Quarteily with the consent of Mr. Piiestley and we are quite sure that Lou- 
 isiana students of Spanish institutions in Louisiana will be quick to appreciate this 
 very valuable contribution to a subject that up to this time has been very inadequately 
 treated here or elsewhere. 
 
 With the light thrown on the subject by Mr. Priestley's essay, many of the mis- 
 understood features of the Spanish Cabildo in Louisiana will be restored to their true 
 position in our history. HENRY P. DART. 
 
 Spanish Colonial Municipalities. 
 
 The municipal organization of Castile, transferred to Amer- 
 ica soon after the advent of Columbus, began to function with 
 no lack of vitality. The first conquerors brought to the New 
 World a traditional love of liberty and a spirit of strong local 
 autonomy which promised fair for development in the conquered 
 and colonized territory. But during the sixteenth century the 
 Spanish peninsular municipio was reduced from its earlier im- 
 portance and power, being subjected to centralized control by 
 officers of the crown. These were the gobernadores, corregidores, 
 and alcaldes mayores, who went out to hold the local areas in the 
 name of the national authority. These centrally appointed of- 
 ficers substituted for the direct democracy guaranteed by the 
 municipal fueros, (charters), and for the system of local legisla- 
 tion arising from the petitions of the towns through their procu- 
 radores, a direct central legislation under royal cedulas, cartas, 
 and instrucciones. Thus, through the conflict of the monarchs with 
 
2 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 the towns was eliminated the initiative of earlier, more in- 
 dependent days.' 
 
 The significant characteristic of these peninsular cabildos 
 (town corporations) before the epoch of Charles V was the posses- 
 sion of rights similar to those which had been won by Englishmen 
 in their struggle for political liberty under their kings. The Span- 
 ish townsmen had established under their fueros the equality of 
 all the citizens before the law. The character of the vecino 
 (townsman) was superior to all social distinctions. This equality 
 was considered essential for wise government of the commune, 
 and if any counts, knights, or other noblemen should come to 
 settle in it they must become subject to the same restrictions, in- 
 cluding death penalties for certain crimes, as the earlier settlers. 
 
 In the Spanish towns the principle of the inviolability of the 
 domicile was well recognized. It was not the Englishman alone 
 who could claim that his house was his castle. Violation of this 
 right was punished by the severest penalty, even death. In the 
 fueros of Cuenca and Sanabria the method of entering the domi- 
 cile under the authority of search warrant is prescribed with the 
 same precaution and respect for the rights of the inhabitants as 
 are shown in the most modern legislation. 
 
 Furthermore, justice was dispensed to the citizen by his 
 peers, chosen by him or by his counsel, save in matters wherein 
 the royal jurisdiction intervened. No man might be deprived of 
 life or property, nor be arrested by the merinos (king's justices) 
 except in matters on which the local judges had already passed 
 sentence. If the merinos passed such sentences, they were to be 
 disobeyed. 
 
 Every man had a right to participate in public affairs. He 
 shared in the election of magistrates. The authority of the town 
 government was based on popular election; this constituted the 
 legitimate sanction of the officer in the exercise of his duties un- 
 der the local fueros. No confirmation of his powers from any au- 
 thority outside of the municipality was necessary; not even the 
 king had any intervention in the naming of the municipal of- 
 ficers. -^ 
 
 'R. Altamlra, fHatoria de Eapana ii de la civiliaacidn espaiioln, II, 483; Carlos 
 Navarro y Lnmarca. Compendia de la historia general de AmMca, II. 339. 
 
 »J. A. Garcfa. La ciudad indiana, 161. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 3 
 
 With respect to the responsibility of the officers of the Castil- 
 ian city, the ancient legislation provided more amply, perhaps, 
 than does much of the modern. "Injuries caused to citizens were 
 to be compensated for doubly if by an officer ; infractions of the 
 fueros or deception in controlling public interests were punished 
 severely as breaches of trust by loss of position. Instead of form- 
 ing a shield for iniquity, municipal office brought upon an offend- 
 er punishment twice as severe as that imposed in like case upon 
 the private citizen, the public trust being construed as aggravat- 
 ing the offense."^ 
 
 All this was absent in the Spanish-American municipality. 
 The guarantees of the citizen were wanting. There was, too, the 
 lack of forceful union between the towns, union which had in 
 Spain given stability and respectability to the pretensions of the 
 local entities. This had been secured through the Santa Herman- 
 diad, which in the earlier times constituted the visible arm of the 
 united power of Castilian towns. But in America this source of 
 dignity and power was at first altogether lacking ; when the Her- 
 mandad did appear, it was as the arm and token of the central 
 authority, imposed from above for the protection of the roads 
 against highwaymen. Serving as an attempt to guarantee safety 
 in the interstices between the areas controlled by the municipal- 
 ities, the Hermandad lent none of its majesty to the local govern- 
 ment, and served rather to aggrandize the central control and pre- 
 vent development of local autonomy. 
 
 As far as form went, however, the local units of the New 
 World modeled their government upon that of the towns of Spain. 
 Municipal organizations, provided for under Columbus, and ex- 
 tended throughout La Espafiola in 1507, began to exist wherever 
 a group of Spaniards was numerous enough to require social con- 
 trol. By the last quarter of the sixteenth century there were at 
 least two hundred such organizations in the Spanish Indies, under 
 the designation of ciudad, pueblo, or villa. In some places the 
 name lugar (literally "place") was used to designate the pueblo, 
 but the latter word was used in most cases to designate settle- 
 ments other than mining camps (reales de minas) not large 
 enough to be called ciudades. In the period last mentioned a num- 
 ber of the earliest towns had died with the shifting movements 
 incidental to continental settlement when once the larger land 
 
 'Garcia, Op. et loc. cit. 
 
4 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 masses had been found to excel the insular holdings in opportun- 
 ity for enrichment. 
 
 Essentially, whatever the designation, all the municipalities 
 enjoyed the same legal status. There were minor variations in the 
 composition of the official governing body, the elaborateness of 
 the organization corresponding to development in size. Black- 
 mar, who shows the derivation of the Spanish towns from the 
 Roman ones in Spain, points out clearly that, whatever might 
 have been the variety of the organization of the peninsular towns, 
 there was practical uniformity in style of organization in the 
 colonial municipalities. Bernard Moses draws attention to the 
 fact that the colonial cities might owe their origin to development 
 from an Indian mission or from a presidio, or that they might be 
 founded outright as cities by an individual conqueror or by a 
 group of settlers voluntarily associated for the purpose.* These 
 variations in origin meant, however, no diversity in character 
 among the municipal entities once they were organized. This uni- 
 formity was due to the existence of early general legislation and 
 to the absence of those special frontier conditions which had in 
 Spain made the successive reconquests from the Moors the basis 
 for grants of widely divergent fueros and special privileges.'' 
 
 In all of the municipalities the essential officers were the 
 regidores (town councilmen). Their number was variable, rang- 
 ing from four in the small villas to eight in the large ciudades 
 and to twelve in the capitals, as for instance Mexico and Lima. 
 Their importance was due to the fact that thev had power of 
 decision in matters of routine administration, and because from 
 their number were annually chosen the alcaldes ordinarios (muni- 
 cipal judges, usually two in number) and the alferez (herald), 
 whose function it was to bear the municipal banner on festal days. 
 In occasional instances, the alferez was also a regidor. After the 
 inception of the Hermandad in the New World, its alcaldes were 
 chosen from among the alcaldes ordinarios; this was later than 
 
 *Frank W. Blackmar, Spamfh Institutions of the Rnuthir.cst (Johns Honkins 
 Studies in Historv and Political Scisnc?, Extra Volume X. Baltimore. 1891). Ciiap. 
 VIII, "Spanish Colonial MunicipaMties" : B'^rnard Mrses. "The Bstablishmpnt of 
 Municipal Government in San Francisco" (Johns Hopkins University Studies in His- 
 tory and Political Scimci', Seventh Series, Nos. II, III. February and March. 18,S9). 
 
 ''I-.ei?islation covering foundation of early nnmicinalities Is found in Qrdenamaa 
 aobre drstyiihrimicnto nuevo }/ poblaci6ii, in Coleccidii de dorHtnentos in^ditos rela- 
 tix'oa al descubrimiruto, conqniata y orgnnizacidn de las antiguas poaesiones espaiiolaa 
 de America y Oceania, Tom. 8 pp. 484-527. This legislation was afterward largely In- 
 corporated In the Rcropilaci6n de Ivdias. The general law has been recapitulated by 
 O. Garfield Jones under the title "Ixjcal government In the Spanish colonies as pro- 
 vided by the Recopilaridn de leyea de loa Reynoa de laa Indiaa", In The Southwestern 
 Historical Quarterly, Vol. 19, pp. 65-90. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 5 
 
 the beginnings of municipal administration ; in Lima, for instance, 
 the alcaldes of the Hermandad did not appear until 1560." In New 
 Spain the alcaldes of the mesta, or grazers' guild, appear among 
 the list of annually elected municipal officers until well toward 
 the end of the eighteenth century." 
 
 The number of regidores varied from one period to another, 
 as well as in classes of towns. In the Ordenanzas, cited above, 
 it was provided that the governor of a new territory within which 
 a city was to be erected should make declaration whether the new 
 establishment was to be designated a ciudad, villa, or lugar 
 {pueblo). The government of a metropolitan city was to con- 
 tain one alcalde mayor or corregidor, he being characteristically 
 the appointee of the central or provincial power. In his hands 
 was to be placed the jurisdiction in solidum. The capitular es 
 (town officials) designated in accordance with the colonizing 
 grant, were to be the three oficiales reales (treasury officers), 
 twelve regidores, two jueces ejecutores, and a small number of 
 accessory executive and clerical subordinates. Two of these were 
 the jurados, one of whom was prescribed for each parish in the 
 new settlement, perhaps the prototypes of the later alcaldes de 
 barrio of the eighteenth century. The procurador general, known 
 as time went on as the sindico (city attorney), was a man of 
 recognized ability, social category, and political influence in the 
 community.^ 
 
 For the smaller settlements, known as villas, pueblos, or lu- 
 gares, the Ordenanza of 1563 provided one alcalde ordinario, four 
 regidores, one alguacil or bailiff, and some mjnor officers. Here 
 the alcalde mayor or corregidor was wanting ; this would indicate 
 that municipal life was more free from the trammels of supervi- 
 sion in the smaller places, or that the alcalde mayor extended his 
 control to the lesser from the larger settlements, as later came to 
 be the rule. 
 
 In the closing years of the colonial epoch, the number of 
 regidores was set at twelve for the larger cities; |ight was the 
 number considered proper for Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi in 
 New Spain, while most of the smaller towns were to have six. In 
 the City of Mexico there were fifteen.'* 
 
 •Altamita, Historia de Espaiia, II, 313. 
 
 ■'A. Cavo, I, OS Tres siglos de Mexico, passfun. 
 
 *Lucas AlamS,n, Historia de Mejico, I, 58. J. N. Rodriguez de San Miguel, Manual 
 de providenoias economico-politicas para uso de los habitantes del Distrito Federal, 
 215. 
 
 »Cf. Alaman, Op. cit.. I. 57. and Altamira, Op. cit.. III. 314. 
 
6 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 The method of choice of the city officers was subject to 
 notable variation. In new conquests it was usually the privilege 
 of the leader of the expedition (governor, adelantado, captain- 
 general, or whatever was his title), to nominate the first set of 
 officers for the towns erected within the area of his roughly 
 delimited royal grant. This power was conceded by specific per- 
 mission contained in the conqueror's capitulacion or grant, as in 
 the case of Pizarro at Lima (1535), of Pedro de Alvarado at San- 
 tiago de los Caballeros (1524), and in numerous other cases.'" If 
 this privilege was not specified in the capitulacion, the munici- 
 pality was organized by means of an election in whch participated 
 every free member of the expedition ; nomination by the con- 
 queror was, however, the normal and more usual method. Usual- 
 ly, when the first group so appointed or elected had served a nat- 
 ural year, which was the prescribed term of office, the retiring 
 regidores designated their successors ; certain conquerors, Pizarro 
 and Alvarado again as illustrations, named the successors. Until 
 1621 or 1622 the oficiales reales or treasury officials, whose prin- 
 cipal duty it was to care for the interests of the king's revenues, 
 sat in the municipal cabildos "with voice and vote." Restrictions 
 on this practice had begun in 1567, when the oficiales reales were 
 forbidden to serve as alcaldes. 
 
 The periodical renovation of the city's governing body was 
 attained not only by the annual election, but also by the provision 
 that no regidor might be re-elected until one year had elapsed 
 since his term of service ; in the case of the alcaldes ordinarios at 
 least two years must have so elapsed. The efficiency of this inhi- 
 bition was largely nullified in practice by the rotation in office of 
 members of a few allied families, who maintained oligarchical 
 control in alternation. 
 
 It was the royal intention, as evinced in the earlier legisla- 
 tion, to prevent the central authority, represented by the vice- 
 roys and governors, from intervening in municipal elections, but 
 the laws to thp effect were nullified in practice by the central of- 
 ficers, who had the legally prescribed power to confirm or dis- 
 approve the annual elections. An instance of such interference 
 occurred in Buenos Aires in 1590, despite the efforts of the cahildo 
 to prevent. Again in 1609 Governor Saavedra of Buenos Aires 
 named an alguacil (marshal) "with voice and vote" in the cahildo. 
 
 '"In the towns which sprang up about the presidios, the municipal cahildo might 
 remain absent for a long period, as In the case of San Francisco, California, which 
 existed from 1776 to 1834, without the cabildo organization, Moses, Op. cit., 17-18. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 7 
 
 The perpetual regidores (of whom more later) acceded to the 
 illegal appointment, but the elective regidores resisted until the 
 governor coerced them by a fine of five hundred pesos each. Not 
 only fines, but imprisonment, resorted to repeatedly by governors, 
 served to enforce their predominance, v^hich brooked no opposi- 
 tion. So far was the practice carried that men refused to accept 
 municipal office, like the senators of the Roman Spanish towns, 
 until fines were imposed to oblige them to accept. 
 
 Not only was the elective faculty overridden to a large ex- 
 tent by the viceroys and governors; still another feature of ad- 
 ministration served to reduce it. This was the practice of selling 
 offices, due to the impecunious condition of the Spanish crown. 
 The Catholic Kings had forbidden the sale of offices, and Juana 
 la Loca had restricted it to non-judicial offices; by the end of the 
 seventeenth century, however, the practice had become settled and 
 general. Frequently public offices were disposed of by auction 
 to the highest bidder. In Buenos Aires in 1644 a number of 
 legidorships were auctioned, bringing revenues from eight hun- 
 dred and fifty to twelve hundred and fifty pesos. The position of 
 alcalde de la Hermandad, thus disposed of in 1671, produced thir- 
 teen hundred pesos. Lesser municipal offices, as those of escri- 
 bano (notary) and alguacil mayor, were leased or farmed for a 
 lump sum to be covered by the incumbent from fees collected. ^^ 
 
 Navarro y Lamarca, following several writers of the epoch 
 during which the practice of selling offices was in vogue, thinks 
 that the system has been overcriticised, and that the men who 
 bought offices were more inclined to administer them conscien- 
 tiously than were the "irresponsible and voracious minions of the 
 viceroys." The same author calls to attention the fact that Mon- 
 tesquieu considered the practice advantageous and perfectly 
 proper.^- Insofar as his efficiency was concerned, it may be safely 
 asserted that whether the position of the regidor was obtained by 
 purchase or by election, that accident was of less importance in 
 determining his value to the State than was the fact that the 
 whole political heirarchy of the Spanish empire, colonial and 
 peninsular alike, was characterized by malfeasance and graft- 
 with such notable exceptions that honesty in office was the crown- 
 ing virtue whereby many names of colonial administration have 
 become conspicuous if not illustrious. 
 
 "Garcia, La ciudad Indiana, 170-171. 
 
 '^^Op. cit., II, 341, note 1, citing L'Esprit de lois. Cap. XIX, Cf. E. B. Bourne. 
 Spain in A'merica, 227-229. 
 
^ Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 One very notable effect of the sale of offices was the tend- 
 ency of the central authority to increase unduly the number of 
 them for the sake of the revenue thus produced, regardless of the 
 consequence to efficiency. This caused a cynical attitude toward 
 tenure of office which did not a little to destroy the public spirit 
 of the colonists. The customary sale of the office of regidor seems 
 at no time to have eliminated completely the feature of election 
 of at least part of the municipal corporation. Six of the regidores 
 of the City of Mexico were elected every two years by the per- 
 petual regidores, who held by purchase or inheritance ; this at the 
 close of the eighteenth century.^-^ The power to appoint perpe- 
 tuos had, indeed, been held by some of the earliest conquerors; 
 Pizarro, by the terms of his capitulacion, could name three of 
 them. The purchase of the regiduria perpetua by well-to-do fam- 
 ilies gave in time to the Creole families of colonial society their 
 one avenue of admission into participation in la cosa puhlica, 
 though it is true that at times, through default of suitable Span- 
 iards, the Creoles came into control of the audiencias (supreme 
 courts of justice with certain administrative functions). It may 
 be little doubted that the preponderance of the creole element in 
 ' the cahildos was one of the compelling motives for the policy pur- 
 sued by the Spanish government in emasculating these as au- 
 thoritative bodies. 
 
 So much, briefly, for organization and perpetuation of the 
 cabildo. Of equal interest is the subject of the general powers of 
 the municipal corporation. These were both administrative and 
 judicial for their areas, but their range was limited by the original 
 grant of privileges, and more especially as time elapsed, by the 
 issue of ordinances for municipal guidance by the viceroys and 
 audiencias. The general laws of the Recopilacion de Indias com- 
 bined with these ordinances to reduce the initiative of the city 
 government to a minimum. Judicial functions were supposed to 
 be exercised by the alcaldes ordinarios in first instance in both 
 civil and criminal suits. In civil suits involving certain sums the 
 cabildo was a court of appeal also from the decisions of the 
 alcaldes; it might itself be appealed to from the governor, though 
 the practice of the audiencias of sending out special judges for 
 causes of consequence gradually limited the bases for appeals 
 which would normally have gone through the municipal courts.^* 
 
 "'InmAn, vhi 8n»ra, n. S. 
 
 "Hlp6Uto Villaroel. Kvfrrmedndea pnliticas que padece eata capital dc Nucva 
 Enpat'ni. MS. Tom. I. pnrte 2a, folios 95-102. 
 
Spanish Colonial Micnicipalities 9 
 
 In affairs of administration the cabildo was theoretically in- 
 dependent in everything that had to do with the adornment of the 
 city, the improvement of its public works, regulation of economic 
 affairs, such as fixing the prices of products, wages, and the levy 
 of local taxes, the inspection of jails and hospitals, administration 
 of the public lands (of which more anon)^ and the oversight of 
 public morals. All of these cares of the municipality were by a 
 cedula of 1535 carefully distinguished as administrative and not 
 judicial, so as to forestall the intervention of the judges of the 
 audiencias in them. As a matter of fact, however, the cabildos 
 were in all of the above matters under the domination of the co- 
 rregidores or governors, who presided over them and had the 
 power of executing the acuerdos (votes) of the capitulares, and 
 these decisions they often modified or nullified through interpre- 
 tation or neglect. The corregidores were notorious for their in- 
 justice in the division of the public lands and in their efforts to 
 profit personally from the exercise of authority. 
 
 • ' The cabiZrfo deliberated usually in secret^that is, there were 
 not public hearings of their sessions, and the capitulares were 
 bound by oath to maintain secrecy in regard to their deliberations. 
 Notable variation from this procedure occurred when, for the pur- 
 pose of negotiating a forced loan (donativo) , for the king, the 
 influential and well-to-do members of the community were in- 
 vited to join what was known as the "cabildo abierto" (open town 
 meeting). " Such meetings occurred frequently in Buenos Aires 
 during the seventeenth century. ^"^ 
 
 A still more noteworthy development of cabiZdo government 
 occurred in the earlier part of the Spanish domination. In the 
 island of La Espariola there began, shortly after the initiative of 
 the settlers had brought about the establishment of municipal 
 governments, the practice of holding assemblies of the procura- 
 dores of the towns after the manner of the gatherings of the 
 Cories' in Spain. These convocations had the right of assembling 
 without the call of the governors, and were empowered to au- 
 thorize the latter to execute whatever might be conducive to the 
 general welfare. This created a type of resolution which was 
 used as a temporary substitute for the decision of the Council of 
 the Indies, which, arriving tardily, as was frequently the case, 
 was often found inapplicable to the situation which it was in- 
 tended to affect. The assembly of the procuradores also came into 
 
 '-Oarcia, Op. cit.. 199-201 ; cf. Bernard Mcses, "The Colonial City." Chap. XVIII. 
 Vo'. II, of his The Spanish Dependencies in South Avierica. 
 
10 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 vogue in Cuba ; it met annually at Santiago de Cuba for the pur- 
 pose of recommending to the king measures of state interest and 
 reporting to him the necessities of the island, together with peti- 
 tions that he supply them. This practice was in vogue as late as 
 1532 and 1540, as records of such assemblages bear these dates. 
 On the continent the practice was continued, particularly in New 
 Spain and New Castile, where the congresses of the towns were 
 recognized by Charles V in cedulas which gave to Mexico and to 
 Cuzco, respectively, the right to the first vote in the assemblies. 
 During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries no less than forty 
 such assemblies were held, though little is now known as to their 
 history and effectiveness, save that they were, of course, means 
 of communication and petition.'" The congresses of New Spain, 
 says Alaman, writing of the beginning of the independence period, 
 had long ceased to meet. 
 
 Of a congress of the towns of New Spain which met in the 
 year 1528, it is recorded that the purpose of the convocation was 
 to send a representative to court with suitable instructions. 
 Procuradores of the towns of Mexico, Vera Cruz, Espiritu Santo, 
 Colima, and San Luis participated in the deliberations "in order 
 to discuss and vote upon what might be to the service of God and 
 his Majesty and to the perpetuity of this land." At this session, 
 May 26, two procuradores were elected to be sent to Spain. On 
 June 1, another session voted to give these agents a salary of four 
 ducats per diem from the time they should leave Mexico City 
 until they should have fulfilled their mission. The towns pro- 
 rated among themselves a fund of nearly seventeen hundred pesos 
 for this journey in the following proportions: Mexico paid eight 
 hundred pesos, Vera Cruz three hundred, Espiritu Santo seventy, 
 Colima fifty, Zacatula two hundred and fifty, San Alfonso de los 
 Zapotecas fifty, San Luis one hundred. In 1528, when Dr. Ojeda 
 was making a voyage to Spain, the congress had voted him a com- 
 mission "to nei^tiate with his Majesty to have granted to the city 
 of Mexico, in the name of this New Spain, a voice and vote in the 
 Cortes which -his Majesty and the kings his successors might order 
 convened." This privilege was granted.^' • ' • • •'- 
 
 "Altamlrft, Op. cit.,.Tn, Zl6, cf. Alam&n, Op. cit, I, 39, 58. 
 
 "Alamftn, Disertncibnes Sohreia hisinrih de' la TfepuhUch Mfneichva, II, 315-816: 
 e^jld. I, 167, 259. See also Coi>iu dc la mayor parte y mas impor,tanU- y ntil del 
 Lioro Primero que comicnza en orho de marro de l.')24 m fivaliia rtt'lO de hi'iio de 
 1529, en que ae asentaran todos los cabiUloa y juntafi Que tnbo la J^oUiUsima Ciudad 
 de Mexico en dicho tiempo, MS. folio 237. T.«Ttor interesting m.Ttorial rtn the miinlripal 
 r^Kime of Mexico is contained In tlie J'raduaei^n paleo{)rAfie<n del libro cuarto fie 
 rahildo de In Ciudad de Mexico. Mexico. 1^74. Tliis iinnrint covors the period from 
 January 1, 1536, to August 20, 1543. The pHntert Artaa del Cabildo del avmitamiento 
 eonatitutinnal de Mexico. (Mexico, 1859-1905) cover the years 1524 to 1619. and 1.S83 
 to 1898. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 11 
 
 One of the most important of the matters which concerned 
 municipal existence in the Spanish colonies was the disposal and 
 utilization of the land. Whether a town were founded by a con- 
 queror or by a group of voluntary associates, the crown theoretic- 
 ally conceded to the new venture a grant of land four leagues 
 square. The actual amount of land was, of course, modified by 
 situation and other physical accidents. The basis of the subdivi- 
 sion (repartimiento) of the land was to provide suitable grazing 
 and arable areas. In conformity with the usual European cus- 
 tom, land for residence purposes was distinct from that used for 
 other purposes. First, then, were set aside at the center of the 
 settlement a sufficient number of town lots (solares), around 
 which was a strip of commons (ejidos) for various communal 
 uses; beyond these were the dehesas y tierras de pasto, or graz- 
 ing grounds, and the municipal grounds (propios) for lease for 
 revenue under a system of perpetual leasehold payment, known 
 as the censo. Aside from these lands, there was apportioned one- 
 fourth of the remainder to the principal conqueror, and the re- 
 mainder to the other settlers by peonias and caballerias, that is, 
 in portions for footsoldiers and horsemen, varying, in number 
 granted to each in ratio of their importance or merits. It would 
 be beside the present subject to go into the matter of the disposal 
 of all these lands, and it is sufficient to say that it was from the 
 propios that the municipality expected, when it had them, to 
 derive a large part of its revenue. Accretions of numbers of new 
 citizens, such as occurred at Buenos Aires after the original allot- 
 ments, invaded the areas set aside as propios and impoverished 
 the towns in proportion. Often, too, there were no lands actually 
 set aside and utilized as propios, so that municipalities frequently 
 lacked entirely this source of revenue. Other income was pro- 
 vided from the arbitrios, which were duties collected by the towns 
 from, mercantile business, trades, and products. From all sources 
 the ^um^ obtained were comparatively meager, and the control of 
 the cabildo over them was limited as we shall see. 
 t :.' The establishment of a city of importance was sometimes 
 accompanied by, but more frequently followed by, the granting of 
 honors and distinctions attended by pomp, circumstance, and 
 formality. These were not uncommonly conceded for the payment 
 or gilt of large sums of money needed by the monarch. The city 
 was for some such consideration granted use of an heraldic device, 
 the svmbols of which commemorated noteworthv features of the 
 
12 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 locality, an incident of the conquest, or the union of the city with 
 the crown of Castile.'** 
 
 The title of Muy noble y leal was usually prefixed to the 
 designation of the city, and these words were used in correspond- 
 ence or official documents. The City of Mexico was by order 
 of Charles V^xjn July 24, 1548, designated "La muy noble, insigne, 
 V muy leal e isrtperial ciudad de Mexico," which "shall enjoy the 
 privileges and preeminences of grandee, as metropolis of this New 
 Spain." In the official correspondence a city of this rank was ad- 
 dressed as "Ilustrisimo Sefior." 
 
 Pomp and ceremony were observed, with careful regulation 
 of the proper precedence of the municipal officers, when the 
 corporation sallied forth "en cabildo" from the casa de ayunta- 
 miento upon festival occasions, such as the celebration of the 
 town's Saint's Day, to meet and greet a new viceroy, governor, 
 correffidor, or what not. The installation of the corregidor of 
 Mexico, -as prescribed by the ordinance of 1728, affords a good 
 illustration of municipal formality.'" The corregidor, after his 
 election by the king, was required to notify the cabildo of his com- 
 ing. That body went out in array to meet him and conducted him 
 to the viceroy, of whom he was required to ask permission 
 to present his title to the audiencia. This arranged for, the cabildo 
 and retiring corregidor conducted the new appointee to the town 
 hall, where he was to take up his residence. After the ceremony 
 of acknowledgement of his title by the audiencia; a day 
 for his formal reception by the cabildo was set by the ne v co- 
 rregidor. At this quaint ceremony the retiring corregidor and the 
 regidores rose to their f6et with bared heads as the new co- 
 rregidor entered their presence. The retiring executive receive:! 
 into his hands the royal appointment of his successor, kissed it, 
 and placed it upon his head in token of obedience; he was imitate J 
 in this formality by the ranking regidor, the other cdpitulares re- 
 maining standing the while. This done, the new corregidor was 
 required to take an oath to perform his office well and faithfully, 
 to defend the purity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
 Virgin, and to preserve the fueros and preeminences of the city, to 
 keep secret the business conducted in cabildo, and to strive in all 
 things to keep the republic in peace, doing all that he could to 
 promote the happiness of the king's vassals. He was thereupon 
 
 "Antonio Peftafiel reproduces many of thes3 heraldic devices in his Ciudadea 
 colonialea v capitalen dd la RepuhUca Mexicana. 5 vols., Mexico. 1908-14. 
 '"Rodrfffuez de .San Miguel, Mannnl de provtdrncida, pagps 187-247. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 13 
 
 presented with the staff of office, which was the public symbol of 
 his rank and importance. Invested therewith, he stepped to the 
 right hand of his predecessor, whom he thanked and congratu- 
 lated. The record of the ceremony was required to be kept in the 
 minutes of the Libro de Cabildo, which today furnishes so much 
 interesting and valuable history of colonial municipal life.^** 
 
 In the first meeting of the cabildo after his Installation, the 
 new corregidor was notified that he must, within th'irty days, post 
 bonds for the residencia (judicial inquiry concerning administra- 
 tive acts) which legally attended retirement from office in the 
 Indies; if he failed to do so he was to forfeit his salary for the 
 period of his delay. After all this had been done, the new corre- 
 gidor escorted his predecessor to his new private residence, and 
 then, all formalities having been complied with, a full and cir- 
 cumstantial report of his induction into office was sent to the 
 viceroy and to the Council of the Indies. 
 
 How insistent the cabildos were upon their privileges and pre- 
 eminences is shown from an occurrence wherein the cabildo of 
 Guatemala came into conflict with the royal audiencia residing in 
 the same capital upon the occasion of the reception of a newly 
 appointed bishop of that see. In 1737 the cabildo complained that 
 it had been prevented from seating its two alcaldes in the choir 
 of the cathedral in the seats of the dean and the archdeacon dur- 
 ing the installation of the bishop. This ancient "fuero y privi- 
 legio" was denied the secular cabildo by the religious cabildo 
 (chapter of the cathedral). The president of the audiencia was 
 appealed to, but he gave no comfort to the insulted alcaldes, re- 
 fusing to intervene for them, but on the contrary ordered the 
 secular cabildo to attend the ceremony in a body. When they re- 
 fused, he designated them "inobedientes," fined them five hun- 
 dred pesos, imprisoned them, and deprived them of their arms 
 and insignia. The audiencia named new alcaldes, and regidores, 
 with whose attendance the installation of the bishop was cele- 
 brated. The crown absolved the capitular es of their fines and 
 
 ^Among the municipal, documents available in print, besides those for Mexico 
 City' mentioned above in Not^ 17, are two small volumes for Guatemala, edited by 
 Rafael Ar^vola : Coleccion de documentos antigiios del archivo del ayuntamiento de la 
 Ciudad d^ Guatemaln. Oiiateniala. 1 S57 ; and Libro de act as' del avuntamiento de la- 
 Ciudad de Santiago de Ctuateinala. Coiu))rende los seis vrimeros aiios de.ide la fnnda- 
 ci6i} de Id misma ciiidad en 1524 hasta 1530 ...: .Guatemala, lS5f). Tf'or Buenos Aires 
 there have been published the Acnerdos del extinguido cabildo de Buenos Aires. 
 1907-08, and the Dornynentos ii pianos relativos al perlodo edilicio colonial de la 
 Civdad de Rnenos Aires. 5 v., Buenos Aires, 1910. The municipal life of Santiago de 
 Chile is recorded, with documents, in M. L. AmunAtegnl, El Cabildo de Santiago, 
 desde 1573 hasta 1581. 3. volumes, Santiago, 1890-91. 
 
14 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 restored them to their positions and honors, but the characteriza- 
 tion of "inohedientes" was left standing. To overcome this, the 
 capitulares appealed to the crown to order the audiencia hence- 
 forth to observe its legal limitations and not interfere with the 
 regulations prescribed for ceremonies in which cabildo and au- 
 diencia were to participate. In November of 1737, the king 
 answered this petition by ordering the president of the audiencia 
 to hear both the audiencia and the cabildo and report his findings 
 to the Council of the Indies. His report the following year showed 
 that the audiencia had arrested the cabildo "first, to maintain its 
 own decorum and authority, and, second, because the plebeians 
 were watching to see what would happen between the audiencia 
 and the cabildo." But, as the capitulares had shown that their 
 refusal to attend the installation was not due to a spirit of dis- 
 obedience, but merely to preserve their privileged preference in 
 the matter of seats, the president judged that they were with- 
 out real blame. 
 
 To cut the story short, the king in 1740 ordered that the au- 
 diencia should henceforth refrain from attending episcopal in- 
 stallations in a body, and that the alcaldes ordinarios be restored 
 to the ancient seating procedure which obtained before the au- 
 diencia began (illegally) to participate in this ceremony.-^ The 
 incident illustrates the length to which municipal bodies were will- 
 ing to go to maintain their "ancient privileges," and shows how 
 puerile some of these were. It also points illuminatingly to some 
 of the difficulties with which the Spanish crown had to contend in 
 administering its colonies. The quarrel had lasted three years, 
 and numerous hearings had been held both in Guatemala and 
 Madrid before the childish difference was settled. Interest at- 
 taches also to the fact that in this instance the cabildo was vic- 
 torious over the audiencia; rather the exception than the rule. 
 
 During the rule of the House of Hapsburg the political insti- 
 tutions of the Spanish empire suffered from the gradual decay 
 which brought threat of disintegration at the time of the demise 
 of the last monarch of that line, Charles II. When the House of 
 Bourbon ascended the throne in the person of Philip V, the policy 
 of the nation became one of general reform, based on the French 
 model of administration. So far as the Indies were concerned 
 there were not marked symptoms of this change until the time of 
 
 *'R. Arfevalo. como., Colecciiin de documentoa antipiioa del archivo del aijunta- 
 miento de la citidad de Guatemala, 9-13. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 15 
 
 Charles III (1759-1788). That benevolent despot began his pro- 
 gram of rehabilitation by sending to New Spain the distinguished 
 visitor-general, Jose de Galvez. This minister was instructed, 
 among other things, to take note of the condition of the munici- 
 palities, particularly for the purpose of reforming their financial 
 systems so as to prevent malversation of funds, the conspicuous 
 sin of municipal administration. In 1767 he began this work while 
 on a visit to the northern provinces of the viceroyalty. The cities 
 of San Luis Potosi and Guadalajara were found to have allowed 
 their cabildos to fall into desuetude, a condition widespread in 
 Spanish America at that time. In San Luis Potosi there were 
 only two regidores, and these mere lieutenants and not proprie- 
 tarios as they should have been ; one of them was also alcalde or- 
 dinario, which he should not have been. Galvez accordingly 
 caused six new regidores to be elected for a term of one year, the 
 number thus being made eight. The city was also now divided 
 into ten barrios, or wards, each of which was placed under con- 
 trol of a regidor or an alcalde. A list of all the resident tributaries 
 was ordered made, and the neglected practice of guarding the 
 municipal treasure by use of the strong box with three keys was 
 restored according to law. Similar provisions for the revivification 
 of Guanajuato were made by the visitor-general at this time. 
 
 Upon his return to the capital, Galvez found that an investi- 
 gation of the cities of the viceroyalty which he had inaugurated 
 had disclosed unbelievable disorder and confusion in municipal 
 finance. In many towns no account books had been kept at all, 
 even for the simplest receipts and expenditures. ' The situation 
 was so bad that it was thought wise to establish in Mexico City 
 a contaduria general which should keep the accounts of all the 
 municipalities. After the establishment of this accounting office 
 no expenditures of city funds might be made by regidores withr 
 out prior consent of the contador general. Plainly this reduced 
 the municipalities to a level of irresponsibility which was later 
 to be surpassed by the provisions of the Ordinance of the Inten- 
 dants, which went into partial effect in 1786. 
 
 For the City of Mexico the reforms of Galvez were embodied 
 in an ordinance promulgated by the viceroy in 1771. The essential 
 feature of this ordinance was the increase of responsibility placed 
 upon the municipal officers with decrease of salaries and fees. 
 Duties such as the inspection of markets, of weights and measures 
 and other cares grouped under the heading of policia (good gov- 
 
16 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 ernment) were still, as under the old regulations, to be per- 
 formed by committees of the regidores in annual turn, but with- 
 out the extra pay which had previously been conceded. The in- 
 dependence of the corporation was, by the minute provisions of the 
 ordinance, reduced to the vanishing point. 
 
 Interference of the viceroy with the municipal body was em- 
 phasized by another ordinance emanating from the visitor and 
 the viceroy for minute regulation of the bakers' guild of the 
 capital. There were at that time, or shortly after, some fifty 
 guilds of trades workers in the city, management of which gave 
 to the government much concern. These might well have been 
 cared for by the cahildo; but when the viceroy of a great kingdom 
 like New Spain, twice as large as modern Mexico, could descend 
 to the details of regulating the number of bakeshops and the size 
 and price of loaves while the fieles executor es (judges of weights 
 and measures) of the cahildo sat by in silence waiting the issue of 
 his dispensation, there could have been little left to the discretion 
 or self-respect of the cahildo. 
 
 The Galvez reforms contained still another manifestation of 
 the centralizing policy of Charles III. This was the appointment 
 by the viceroy of six regidores honorarios to sit with the twelve 
 (later fifteen) elected and hereditary capitular es, without salary 
 and in a purely advisory capacity. This was in emulation of the 
 new system then in force in Madrid. The purpose was, of course, 
 to give the viceroy closer oversight of municipal affairs and en- 
 able him better to oppose the radical Creole element by drawing his 
 appointees frorh the more conservative Spanish group. The reg- 
 ular members of the cahildo were restive under the new arrange- 
 ment, and in 1794 obtained the power to nominate the honorarios; 
 this continued until independence, and of course, did away with 
 the effectiveness intended by their institution.^^ 
 
 The municipal reforms initiated by Galvez during the visita- 
 tion of New Spain were incorporated in the legislation estab- 
 lishing the intendancies which went into partial effect in New 
 Spain in 1786, similar legislation having previously been applied 
 
 ^Refflninento e instruccion del visitndor general Don Jos^ dc (Jdlves para la 
 Nobitiaima Cindad de Mexico, mandada obaervar por el Marques de Ci'oia en decreto de 
 22 de Enero del niio de 1771 (Mexico. 1771), passim. 
 
 Replamento del premio de panadems dr efita rapital para sn abasto y ereccidn de 
 un poaito de trigoa }/ harinaa a bcneficio de an comnn (Mexico, 1771), passim. 
 
 Revilla Gigedo, Juan Vicfnte, Inafrncrinn rcaervada que el Conde de RevUla 
 Oigedo did a au auceaor en el mnndo. Marques de Branciforte, aobre el gobierno de 
 eate rontinente en rl tiempn en que fue lu vireu » Mp.xIco, 1831), Articles 154-156. 
 
 Priestley, H. I., Joa^ de Odlvez, Vtaitor- general <' New Spain, 1765-1771. 222- 
 26. 296-303. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 17 
 
 in some measure in Havana in 1764 and in New Spain itself by 
 Galvez in 1765 (he being an intendente de ejercito himself), and 
 in Peru in 1782. The viceroy Revilla Gigedo was obliged to con- 
 fess in 1794, however, that the provisions of the Ordenanza con- 
 cerning municipal regulation had not yet been enforced." Under 
 its provisions, the intendentes (who superseded the governors and 
 corregidores) were supposed to frame regulations for the control 
 of town revenues derived from lands and buildings, that is, the 
 propios. These regulations they were to submit to the Junta 
 Superior de Real Hacienda (the standing administrative commit- 
 tee of the treasury system) for approval, but they had neglected, 
 said the viceroy, to do either. As a result, there was no improve- 
 ment in the chronic malady of the municipalities. "Malversation 
 of public funds is a common and inveterate evil .... concerning 
 which Jose de Galvez .... later marques de Sonora, labored most 
 and gathered least f ruit."^* 
 
 But the life of the municipality was depressed in other ways 
 than those which affected finance. Under the Ordenanza de In- 
 tendentes the local autonomy was completely prostrated by the ab- 
 sorptive action of the Junta Superior de Real Hacienda, the vice- 
 roy, and the "intendant-governors." Francisco de Croix in 
 Mexico exercised his viceregal talents in supervising the cleaning 
 of the streets, (at a later day Revilla Gigedo was fain to order the 
 dung-hills out of the thoroughfares) repairing roads, providing 
 pure water, public baths, illumination, hospitals, jails, foundling 
 homes, and so on. All were, of course, necessary and valuable im- 
 provements, bringing the vassals willy-nilly into contact with the 
 amenities of civilization, but the tragedy lay in the spirit of the 
 system which brought the viceroy, the alter nos of royalty, draw- 
 ing a salary of eighty thousand pesos per annum, to performing 
 tasks which lesser men could have done as well if educated to 
 responsibility and given normal outlet for self-expression in ac- 
 tivities which form beneficent safety-valves to large groups of 
 citizens who in flourishing democracies find fields thus opened 
 to them for useful public service. 
 
 The Ordenanza gave the cabildo, so far as it was the means 
 of conserving the self-respect of the towns, the coup de grace. Its 
 nullity, long existent, was now given the sanction of law, the 
 capitulares being given the merely routine drudgery imposed by 
 central authority. 
 
 ^''Revilla Gisedo, Instruccidn reservada, ubi simra ; Real ordenanza para el estab- 
 lecimiento e instruccidn de ivtende^ites (Madrid, 1786), Articles 2S-5r>. 
 2<Revilla Gigedo, Instruccidn reservada, ubi supra. 
 
18 Spanish Colonial Municipalities 
 
 The intendant of the province presided over the cabildo (as 
 had the governor, theoretically, before him), kept the accounts 
 of the propios; and reported the condition of finances to the Junta 
 Superior, or else as in Mexico, neglected to do this at all. He 
 divided the town funds into groups, that is, budgeted them, as 
 prescribed by the Ordenanza, being guided in his expenditures by 
 the hard and fast provisions of the general law. To complete the 
 control, the regidores were practically eliminated from interven- 
 tion in fiscal matters by the appointment of municipal juntas 
 composed of the alcalde ordinario, two regidores, and the procu- 
 rador. These committees had authority to manage city funds 
 without the intervention of the other capitulares. The intendant 
 also took over the supervision of agriculture, commerce, mining, 
 forests, roads, streets, inns, public parks, and municipal buildings. 
 He or his asesor (adviser) took over the guidance of municipal 
 justice. In this duty the asesor letrado preserved the tradition of 
 bulldozing the regidores with the same tyrannical cynicism that 
 had been the chief characteristic of the deposed corregidor. The 
 Ordenanza prescribed the intervention of the intendant or his 
 asesor in matters of justice "to prevent the municipal judges from 
 acting with partiality, passion, or vengeance."-'^ But the asesor 
 took it upon himself to intrude in all the deliberations of the 
 cabildo; indeed, his manner of doing so was not, as instanced at 
 Santiago de Chile, calculated to retard the inevitable process 
 which eventuated in independence. "The asesor letrado," it was 
 reported to the king, "does not treat the cabildo with that respect 
 and moderation imposed by law and ceremonial. He interrupts 
 with insulting words the most serious functions of this respectable 
 congress. To make detailed statement of the outrages which 
 have been endured by the members of this venerable corporation 
 of the republic would be to descend to petty prolixity or to con- 
 fess excessive affection for distinctions ; hence, let it suffice to say 
 that ever since the asesor assumed his duties there has been none 
 of that peace which was enjoyed in earlier but less quiet times, be- 
 cause he believes that he can make his opinion prevail in the ses- 
 sions of the ayuntamiento against the opinions of all the rest, by 
 interrupting and depreciating in harsh and insulting phrases the 
 opinions which he considers opposed to his own."^^ 
 
 *^Real ordenanza, article 28; Garcia, La ciudad indiana, 293-. 
 
 ■Klatcfa. I.o ciiidad indiana, p. 294, citinff M. T.. Amunfttegui, Loa precuraorea de 
 la independencia de Chile 3 volumes, Santiago, 1870-1872. 
 
Spanish Colonial Municipalities 19 
 
 In resume then, it is apparent that the municipality was 
 brought to the New World with the tradition of the ante-sixteenth 
 century autonomy still alive, but that the expression of that auto- 
 nomy in America was a mere flicker of the old-time independence 
 extinguished by Charles V on the field of Villalar. The embryo- 
 nic Cortes survived for more than a century in America, but only 
 by sufferance of the monarch, and representation of the towns 
 in the Spanish Cortes suffered all the vicissitudes of the penin- 
 sular organization plus the inherent difficulties of great distance, 
 stormy seas to cross, and the tradition of colonial subordination to 
 peninsular welfare. While the colonies grew in population, while 
 the cities developed in size and opulence, their juridicial status, 
 which should have kept pace with material success, was consistent- 
 ly sacrificed by a policy which feared the Creole and meztizo, 
 which based colonial welfare and imperial integrity on the exclu- 
 sion of the colonist from participation in la cosa publica because 
 he was, as a result of the completion of the vicious circle, very 
 seriously incapacitated for proper discharge of the duties of 
 citizenship. Small wonder that the cities, thwarted in the norm- 
 al development by centralist control, became the centers of re- 
 volt and separation from Spain. After that, once free from the 
 decrepitude of the declining control of the fatherland, they became 
 centers of separatism and disintegration that defied for nearly a 
 century the development of reasoned and self-directed nationalism. 
 
 Herbert Ingram Priestley. 
 
 University of California, Berkeley, California. 
 
■^