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qualifications which are required for such offices: we command the viceroys and Presidents to whom pertain the direction of this subject, that they cause to be chosen and nominated, suitable persons and well fitted for the discharge and performance of the duties which they have to administer and they are not to permit them to trade nor to contract with the miners under pretext of furnishing supplies or any other pretext, nor with any other persons which we hereby prohibit and forbid-and inasmuch as it has been claimed by the alcaldes mayores to have administration of territory with increased limits and jurisdiction, we order that our Viceroys, Presidents and Governors communicate with intelligent persons and determine upon that which may most promote our royal interests, the administration of justice, and the supply and working of the mines.

LAW 2d. That the "Alcaldes Mayores" of the mines shall not purchase or exchange silver.

We command the Alcaldes Mayores of the mines, that neither personally nor through the medium of others shall they barter or purchase of the miners, gold, silver or other metals, either in advance or at the time of delivery, nor enter into any similar understandings and contracts, nor any contracts of whatever kind with the miners, under the penalty that the said Alcaldes Mayores be deprived of their offices and condemned to pay fourfold, and the miners be banished at the discretion of the judges trying the cause, and also subject to a fine of the amount of the contract, provided they shall not appear before the judge and disclose the transaction and if information and proof be furnished of the contract, one half of the penalty shall belong to the minor who gave such information.

LAW 3d.―That no Alcalde Mayore, Judge or Notary of the mines shall form a partnership with the owner of the mines nor be a discoverer of mines.

We prohibit and forbid all Alcaldes Mayores, Judges and Notaries of the mines, forming a mining partnership with the owners of any mines, or engaging in the discovery of mines during their term of office, either personally or through other persons, under the penalty for said offence of being deprived of their office, and a fine of a thousand dollars to our exchequer and treasury.

LAW 4th. That the salaries of the Alcaldes Mayores and inspectors of mines be paid from the profits of the mines.

The salaries which the Alcaldes Mayores and inspectors of the mines are entitled to receive shall be appropriated and paid to them from the profit received from the mines, and shall be taken from the profits of those mines

which are under their administration, and not paid from the treasury, nor in any other manner.

BOOK VIII.-TITLE 11.-LAW 2.

1573, 1575 & 1613.

That the royal mines may be worked, leased or sold, as may appear most desir

able.

We grant to the viceroys and prætorial presidents power and authority, that if they consider that any of our mines of silver, gold or quicksilver discovered in those districts cannot be conveniently worked on our account, and find that for our own profit they may be more usefully and conveniently leased or sold, to make such lease or sale as may result favorably to our royal treasury, and to its increased income. And inasmuch as there are other mines which belong to us and which not being very rich cannot be worked, and if rented or sold we might be able to derive a profit from them; and it will be proper to adopt for this purpose some suitable means: We command the viceroys and presidents, that having informed themselves of the quantity and value of each mines, they shall proceed to work, lease or sell them as may best promote the increase of our royal treasury, and render an account of the whole to the Council of the Indies.

LIB. II.-TITLE I. LAW 2.

The laws contained in this compilation to be observed in the manner and cases herein set forth.

Considering that it is of the utmost importance that the laws framed for the good government of our Indies, islands, and continent of the Northern and Southern Oceans, which have been promulgated in separate cedulas, enactments, instructions, and charters, be collected and digested into one body, and in the form of a code, and that the same be obeyed, fulfilled, and executed: We decree and command, that all the laws herein contained be fulfilled and executed as our laws, and in the manner set forth in the law prefixed to this compilation, and that they all have force of law and supreme authority in whatever they decide and determine; and if it should be deemed expedient to enact others besides those contained in this book, the viceroys, presidents, tribunals, governors, and superior alcades, shall give us information thereof, through our council of the Indies, stating their motives and reasons for so doing, in order that, on due consideration, such measures may be taken

as shall be thought proper and added in a separate book. We command that no addition be made to the municipal laws and ordinances of each city, nor in those which shall be made by any community or university, nor in the ordinances enacted for the good and benefit of the Indies, and confirmed by our viceroys or royal tribunals for their good government, when not repugnant to the laws contained in this book, which shall have the same force and operation as if they were confirmed by the tribunals (audiencias) until, after being seen by the council of Indies, they shall have been approved or rejected. And as regards what is not determined by the laws contained in this compilation, with respect to the decision of causes, the laws in the compilation, and partidas of the kingdom of Castile shall be observed in the manner set forth in the following law.

LIB. II.-TITLE 1, Law 2.

For the observance of the laws of Castile, in cases which are not provided by those of the Indies.

We decree and command, that, in all cases, transactions and suits which are not decided nor provided by the laws contained in this compilation, nor by the regulations, provisions, or ordinances enacted and unrepealed, concerning the Indies, and by those which may be promulgated by our orders, the laws of our kingdom of Castile shall be observed, conformably to the law of Toro, with respect as well to the substance, determination, and decision of cases, transactions, and suits, as to the form of proceedings.

IBID.-LAW 4.

For the observance of the ancient laws in force for the government of the Indies, and of those which have been re-enacted.

We decrce and command, that the laws and good customs anciently in force in the Indies, for their good government and police, and the usages and customs observed and retained from the introduction of Christianity among them, which are not repugnant to our sacred religion, or to the laws contained in this book, and to those which have been framed anew, be observed and fulfilled; and it having become expedient to do so, we hereby approve and confirm them, reserving to ourselves the power of adding thereto whatever we shall think fit and will appear to us necessary for the service of God our Lord, and our own, and for the protection of and christian police among, the natives of those provinces, without prejudice to established usages among them, or to their good and wholesome customs and statutes.

ARTICLES 144 to 147,

Of the "Ordinanza de Intendentes," of 1803.

ARTICLE 144.

The respectable body of miners has at all times deserved the greatest indulgence and attention, and having reduced for them to a tenth, the royal duty of a fifth which they have heretofore paid on silver and to three per cent. the duty on gold and other privileges in relation to the price of quicksilver, powder and provisions having been granted to them, and having been finally erected into a formal body like that of the tribunal of commerce under the ordinances for New Spain, approved on the 22d May, 1783, and which by royal order of the 8th December, 1785, were applied to Peru: and desirous that these provisions should produce the favourable effect designed by them, it is my wish that the intendant coerce exact compliance with them and apply themselves as their chief care, to encourage and protect the body aforesaid in like manner, causing the sub-delegates and ministers of the royal treasury to execute the same, who shall be severely punished if in the sale of quicksilver or of powder, they shall charge to or receive from the miners more than the just price, which shall be fixed for it, and although it be under the name of a gratification or of official and clerical fees it shall be immediately restored;-the same being understood in relation to the ministers of the royal branch at Potosi, to whose charge pertains and should continue, the disposition of this material.

ARTICLE 145.

The Intendants shall be judges in appeal causes in their respective provinces without varying in other respects the provisions of Art. 13. title 3. of the ordinance "de mineria" above cited, and where the distance from the Capitol where they reside to the mine shall be so great as not to permit the prosecution there of the appeal without great delay and expense, they shall commission the sub-delegate to exercise said jurisdiction on adopting the most rapid dispatch consistent with justice, affording the preference to which the causes and judicial proceedings connected with this subject are entitled.

ARTICLE 146.

Nothing is more important to the mining interest than the providing of laborers and facilitating the abundant supply of quicksilver for the precious metals, and although at first there was in some places the practice of assigning Indians, who under the name of "Meta" (allotment,) took turns in such work, it will be very proper from the zeal of the intendents to consider the appropriate means by which it may be possible to relieve them from these

labors, and to stimulate others to perform them voluntarily; therefore, it is their duty to provide that in relation to all, and especially the Indians, that they be kindly treated, and that they pay them their day wages punctually and in good money, without imposing upon them excessive labours or causing them other vexations which have been the means of withdrawing them from this service; and with regard to the abundance and price of quicksilver, they shall represent what they consider proper as well to the superintendent as to my royal person, through the officer of the Secretary of the Treasury; being advised not to incur my royal displeasure by any omission or neglect of duty which may be marked against them.

ARTICLE 147.

There shall continue in Mexico henceforth the office of Comptroller of quicksilver which is already established there, the superintendent conforming to the instructions of the 15th January, 1709, by which he is to be governed according to existing circumstances; and in the other kingdoms where there is no such office established, the respective superintendents shall establish the appropriate regulations in order to furnish deposits of quicksilver for the supply of the towns near the mines, so that they may not experience the least failure, and with the concurrence of the Supreme Council of the gov ernment shall issue such orders as shall be general and conduce to the protection and increase of the mining interest, transferring to each intendent the special charge of adopting the same course in relation to the minerals in his province; and inasmuch as it is proper in all places to free the miners from the necessity under which they are of giving their silver and gold to the merchants who pay for them less than their true value, and by this means also facilitating the concealment and fraudulent extraction of the metal; superintendents shall appropriate in the treasuries where the corresponding foundry is established, sufficient money for the prompt and full payment of those who offer to sell, and that said superintendent should keep a strict watch that the offices of foundry-man and assayer should be filled by faithful subjects instructed and examined according to law, and the superintendent on consultation with the tribunal of the miners shall promote if practicable the establishment of banks of exchange, where in imitation of that of the city of Potosi, in Peru, shall be purchased silver in mass, paying for it promptly and at a fair price, and granting to the miners other aid and supplies which at the time shall not be difficult safely to furnish.

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