was repeated; if an order proved ineffectual, it was revised.
The treasury department as fully organized was composed of three principal officers, the factor, auditor, and treasurer. Each of these chiefs, together with an escribano, had under him three officials who may be denominated the first, second, and third bookkeepers, and attached to the department was a number of employés, such as scriveners, who were occupied in despatching the business of the tribunal of royal officers,[1] and that of the various outside branches responsible to it.[2]
All the important affairs of each department were conducted by a tribunal of the royal officers who held their sessions weekly in the presence of the audiencia, or, where there was no audiencia, before the governor of the district. Their duty was to direct the management of the royal treasury; and in the collection of the revenue these courts had absolute jurisdiction, each tribunal being confined to its own district. During the sixteenth century the power of the royal officers was great. They opened in session the king's despatches to governors; could address the king conjointly or severally; viceroys and audiencias were ordered to put no impediment in their way; justices and alguaciles mayores were instructed to carry out their orders in all matters concerning the treasury, and in their court sessions their vote was final. But later the power of these courts was greatly curtailed,[3] and controlled by the audiencia and the higher Tribunal y Audiencia de Cuentas.[4]
- ↑ The tribunal de los oficiales reales of the city of Mexico was composed of five members, namely, the three chiefs of the treasury mentioned in the text and the contador de tributes y alcabalas. Villa-Señior, Theatro, i. .39.
- ↑ Early in the 17th century there was a royal coffer and branch department at each of the following places, namely: the city of Mexico, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, San Luis de Potosí, Guanajuato, Pachuca, Guadalajara, Durango, and Merida in Yucatan. Recop. de Ind., ii. 451. The first two treasury departments were those of the city of Mexico and Vera Cruz.
- ↑ Recop. de Ind., ii. 419-25.
- ↑ This court was established by Felipe III. in 1605, as a further check upon the officials of the treasury department. Recop. de Ind., ii. 385. At first it
