For the modern court, see Audiencia Nacional of Spain. The Audiencia Nacional de España ("National Court of Spain" is a high court in Spain.
Real audiencia (royal audiency) was a judicial district that functioned as an appellate court in Spain. Court of Appeal, Court of Appeals, and Appellate Division redirect here for a list of specific courts using those titles see Court of Appeal Each audiencia had oidores (Spanish: hearer, a judge). The first audiencia was founded at Valladolid in the kingdom of Castile in 1371. ||-||} is an industrial city and it is a Municipality in north-central Spain, upon the Pisuerga River and within the Ribera del Duero wine-making region The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of León and Castile The Valladolid Audiencia functioned as the highest court in Castile for the next two centuries. After the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon to form the crown of Spain and the Spanish conquest of Granada in 1492, the audiencia was divided in two, with the Audiencia of Valladolid taking cases from north of the River Tagus (Tajo), and the Audiencia of Granada (1494) taking cases from south of the river. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous region of Andalusia, Spain. The Tagus ( Latin Tagus, Spanish Tajo, Portuguese Tejo, pron.
Under Charles V and Philip II, the audiencia system was extended first to Aragon (1528) and then to the rest of the Spanish Empire. Not to be confused with Charles V Holy Roman Emperor, who is sometimes erroneously called Charles V of Spain The Infante Carlos of Spain Philip II (Felipe II de España Filipe I ( May 21, 1527 &ndash September 13 1598) was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598 Aragon ( Spanish: "Aragón") is an autonomous community of Spain. Audiencias in cities that belong to Spain today included Seville (1566), Las Palmas (1568), Mallorca (1571), Asturias (1717), and Extremadura (1790). Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. Majorca ( Spanish and Mallorca is the largest island of Spain. The Principality of Asturias ( Spanish: Principado de Asturias, Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies or Asturies) is an Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida.
Contents |
Audiencias outside Spain
Audiencias in Spanish possessions in Europe included Sardinia (1564-1718) and Sicily (1569-1815). Sardinia (sɑrˈdɪnɪə Sardegna Sardigna or Sardinnya is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily) Sicily ( Italian and Sicilian: Sicilia) is an autonomous region of Italy.
The Spanish crown imposed the audiencia system on the Americas and Philippines as part of its campaign to bring the area and its Spanish settlers and conquerors under royal control. The Crown of Castile, as a historic entity is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and definitive union of the two kingdoms of León and Castile The first audiencia in the Americas was established at Santo Domingo (modern Dominican Republic) in 1511 with jurisdiction over the Caribbean islands and the adjacent mainland. Santo Domingo de Guzmán (known as Santo Domingo population 2084852 (Metro (2003 estimated 2253437 (Metro in 2006 is the Capital and largest city in the The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with It was quickly suppressed due to opposition by the Spanish settlers, but was re-established permanently in 1526. As the Spanish conquest of the continent continued, more audiencias were founded in the new areas of settlement. The first mainland audiencia was set up in Mexico City in 1527, just six years after the fall of Tenochtitlan, which had jurisdiction over most of what is now Mexico and Central America. Mexico City (in Spanish: Ciudad de México, México DF, México or simply Méjico) is the Capital city of Mexico The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. This audiencia was followed by the one in Panama, 1538, overseeing Central America and the littoral regions of northern South America until its abolishment in 1543. Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá is the Capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It later was reestablshed with jurisdiction only over Panama proper in 1564. Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. In 1543 two more audiencias were established, one in Guatemala with jurisdiction over the new captaincy general of the same name established for Central America, and another in Lima (Peru) with jurisdiction over the settled areas of South America, which had been greatly expanded by the conquest of Peru and surrounding regions. La Antigua Guatemala (commonly referred to as just Antigua or La Antigua) is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved The Captaincy General of Guatemala (Capitanía General de Guatemala also known as the Kingdom of Guatemala (Spanish Reino de Guatemala) was an administrative division Lima is the Capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers on a coast overlooking Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was a process through which a group of forty (40 Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro succeeded in toppling the Inca By the end of the 16th century six more audiencias had been established in Guadalajara (Nueva Galicia), 1548, covering what is now northern Mexico; Santa Fe de Bogotá (Nueva Granada), 1548, overseeing most of modern Colombia; Charcas (Bolivia), 1559; Quito, 1565, with jurisdiction over most of modern Ecuador and southern Colombia; Concepción de Chile, 1565, but abolished in 1575; and finally Manila in 1583 overseeing the Philippines. Guadalajara (ˌgwɑːdləˈhɑːrə Spanish pronunciation) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality El Nuevo Reino de Galicia ( The New Kingdom of Galicia) or Nueva Galicia was a region of New Spain. Bogotá —officially named Bogotá DC (DC for " Distrito Capital " which means "Capital District" formerly called Santa Fe de Bogotá The New Kingdom of Granada (Nuevo Reino de Granada was the name given to a group of 16th century Spanish colonial provinces in northern South America governed Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. Sucre (population 247300 in 2006 is the constitutional Capital of Bolivia, seat of the Supreme Court ( Corte Suprema de Justicia The Republic of Bolivia (República de Bolivia) named after Simón Bolívar, is a Landlocked country in central South America. Quito, officially San Francisco de Quito, is the Capital of Ecuador in northwestern South America. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. History Concepción was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1550 north of the Bío-Bío River, at the site which is today known as Penco. The City of Manila The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Venezuela remained under the jurisdiction of the Santo Domingo audiencia until the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the early 18th century. Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the The Viceroyalty of New Granada (Virreinato de la Nueva Granada was the name given on May 27, 1717 to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America
In the 17th century two new audiencias were created in Santiago de Chile, 1609, replacing the one in Concepción; and in Buenos Aires, which only operated from 1661 to 1672. Santiago ( (litteraly in spanish Saint James) is the Capital of Chile, and the center of its largest Conurbation ( Greater Santiago Buenos Aires is the Capital and largest city of Argentina. It is geographically located on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern (Most of the laws dealing with the establishment of the 16th- and 17th-century audiencias can be found in Book II, Title XV of the Recopilación de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias issued in 1680. The Laws of the Indies ( Leyes de Indias in Spanish are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for its American and Philippine possessions ) The last colonial audiencias were created under the Bourbon kings as part part of their administrative reforms, which also involved setting up new viceroyalties. The Bourbon Reforms were a series of economic and political measures taken by the Spanish Crown in the 18th century (under the House of Bourbon) intended The new dynasty found no need for the Panama audiencia and abolished it in 1751, transfering its jurisdiction to the one in Bogotá. Year 1751 ( MDCCLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Both Caracas and Cuzco (Peru) received an audiencia in 1786 and 1787, respectively, and the one at Buenos Aires was re-established in 1783. Caracas (kaˈɾakas is the Capital and largest city of Venezuela. ||} Cusco (also spelled Cuzco, and in the local Quechua language as Qusqu 'qos Year 1786 ( MDCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1787 ( MDCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1783 ( MDCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or This meant that at the moment of Spanish American independence in the early 19th century, the overseas possessions of the Spanish Monarchy were overseen by twelve audiencias. Because Spain was virtually cut off from its colonies during the Peninsular War of 1808–1814 Latin America was in these years ruled by independent juntas
Unlike their peninsular counterparts, the overseas audiencias had legislative and executive functions in addition to their judicial ones. Their importance in handling the affairs of state is reflected in the fact that many of the modern countries of Spanish-speaking South America and Panama have boundaries that are roughly the same as those of the former audiencias. Audiencias shared many government duties with the viceroys and governors-captains generals of the regions they oversaw, and so they served as a check on the authority of the latter. A viceroy is a royal official who governs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the Monarch. A captaincy is a historical Administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese Colonial empires Each was governed by a Captain An audiencia could issue local ordinances and served as a "privy council" to the viceroy or governor-captain general. A privy council is a body that advises the Head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically but not always in the context of a In this function it often met weekly and was called by the term real acuerdo. An audiencia also oversaw the royal treasury, and when meeting in this capacity with the royal treasurer, it was referred to as a junta de hacienda. In turn, in the viceregal capitals of Spanish America, such as Mexico and Lima, the viceroy himself served as a presidente (president) of the audiencia. Likewise the governor-captain general served in this function in the various audiencias located in the capital of a captaincy general. In both cases the president had no vote in judicial matters, and only oversaw the administration of the court. In the remaining audiencias, such as in Quito, where there was no viceroy or captain general, the head oidor was the president of the audiencia, with the viceroy retaining the right to oversee administrative matters, though not judicial ones. [1]
The size and composition of an audiencia varied over time and place. For example, the first audiencia of Mexico had four oidores, one president and a fiscal, or crown attorney, meeting as only one chamber overseeing both civil and criminal cases. By the 17th century it had grown to two chambers handling civil and criminal cases separately. The civil chamber had eight oidores and one fiscal. The criminal chamber had four alcaldes del crimen (the chamber's equivalent of an oidor) and its own fiscal. In addition the audiencia had sundry other officers such as notaries, bailiffs, and the equivalent of modern public defenders. In the United States, a public defender is an Attorney whose duty is to provide legal representation to people who are charged with a crime or other offense The smallest overseas audiencias had a composition similar to the early Mexican one. In their judicial function, an audiencia heard appeals from cases initially handled by justices of first instance, which could be guild courts, corregidores, and alcaldes orinarios, among others. A corregidor was a local administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire. Alcalde () or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate who had both Judicial and administrative functions (See Fuero. Fuero ( Spanish) is a Spanish legal term and conceptThe word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market tribunal ) The audiencia also served as the court of first instance for crimes committed in the immediate jurisdiction of the city that served as the audiencia's seat and any case involving crown officials. In criminal cases the audiencia was the court of final appeal. Only civil cases involving more than 10,000 silver pesos could be appealed to the Council of the Indies, and only then within a statute of limitation of one year. The Council of the Indies, officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies (In Spanish " el Real y Supremo Consejo de Indias " was the [2]
References
Sources
- Artola, Miguel (1991) Enciclopedia de Historia de España. (V. Diccionario Temático). Madrid, Alianza Editorial ISBN 84-206-5294-6
- Coronas Gonzalez, S. M. (1981), "La Audiencia y Chancilleria de Ciudad Real (1494-1505)" en Cuadernos de Estudios Manchegos, 11, pp. 47 - 139.
- Dougnac Rodríguez, Antonio (1994), Manual de Historia del Derecho Indiano, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. ISBN 9683641474.
- Harding, C. H. , The Spanish Empire in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1947.
- Sánchez Bella, Ismael; De la Hera, Alberto; y Díaz Rementeria, Carlos (1992), Historia del Derecho Indiano, Madrid: MAPFRE. ISBN 8471005123.
Additional Bibliography
- Burkholder, Mark A. and D. S. Chandler. Biographical Dictionary of Audiencia Ministers in the Americas. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1982. ISBN 0313220387
- Burkholder, Mark A. and D. S. Chandler. From Impotence to Authority: The Spanish Crown and the American Audiencias, 1687-1808. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1977. ISBN 0826202195.
| Spanish Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
Viceroyalties: New Spain · Peru · New Granada · Rio de la Plata | |
| Real Audiencias: Mexico · Guadalajara · Guatemala · Manila · Santo Domingo | ||
| Lima · Cusco · Chile · Bogota · Panama · Caracas · Quito · Buenos Aires · Charcas | ||
| Captancies General: Philippines · Cuba · Yucatán · Guatemala · Venezuela · Chile · Puerto Rico | ||