follow the form of orders without seal or record, issued by our auditors, etc. And these writs shall be obeyed and executed in the same manner as writs and judgments sealed with our name and royal seal.
12. Item: Our president shall keep a record of votes, which he shall swear to keep secret, and in which he shall enter, in brief form, the opinions of himself and the auditors in all cases involving a hundred thousand maravedis and upwards.
13. Item: We will that our auditors repeal no sentence of banishment, nor allow writs of delay for debts; yet we permit them to issue writs of delay for six months to particular persons, and not in general—provided first that such person for legitimate causes which have intervened is unable to pay; and that he offers approved security, not clerical or noble,[1] that at the end of six months he will pay the debt. This term may be allowed for the same debt only once.
14. Item: We ordain that the appeals taken from decisions for plaintiff or defendant in pecuniary suits, and in suits involving only private interests, when said decisions are pronounced by those who report to the governors and corregidors of the district of our said Audiencia, shall go before it; but as for all other matters heard by such judges, and as for the results of secret investigation, they shall go before our council of the Yndias.
15. Item: Our Audiencia shall appoint no judge in cases of residencia [juez de residencia], or governors for the provinces subject to their jurisdiction, or judges for special criminal investigations [pesquisidores]. If any individual bring complaint or
- ↑ That is, not subject to the exemptions of the privileged orders.—H. B. Lathrop.
