Real Audiencia

Oídores of a Real Audiencia in the Chronicle of Waman Puma de Ayala (1615)

The Real Audiencia (also Audiencia Real or Audiencia , dt literally Royal Audience ) was the highest judicial body and appellate court in the Kingdom of Castile . Each audience had so-called oidores (literally listeners ) as judges.

In Spain

The first Audiencia was formally established in Valladolid in 1371 , following an instruction from King Henry II in 1369 . It was divided into two areas by Queen Isabella the Catholic in 1494 : the Audiencia of Valladolid with jurisdiction north of the river Tagus and the Audiencia of Ciudad Real , which was moved to Granada in 1500 and was responsible south of the river. After the unification of Castile and Aragon , Charles V set up the audience of Aragón in 1528, based in Saragossa . Under his son Philip II , the audiences in the Spanish and European possessions of the crown were significantly expanded. Among other things, audiences were held in Sardinia in 1564, in Seville in 1566, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1526, in Sicily in 1569 and on Mallorca in 1571. a. In 1717 the audience was set up in Asturias and in 1790 in Extremadura .

In the American colonies and the Philippines

In America, the first Royal Audience was established in Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola in 1511 . Between 1526 and 1598, under Charles V and Philip II, numerous new audiences were added to the emerging colonial empire on the American continent and the Philippines : New Spain ( Mexico , 1527, chaired by the Viceroy of New Spain), Panama (1538), Guatemala (1543 ), Lima (1543; Viceroy of Peru), Guadalajara (1548, New Galicia ), Santa Fe de Bogotá (1548), Charcas (today's Sucre , Bolivia , 1559), Quito (1563, see Real Audiencia de Quito ), Santiago de Chile (1563, final 1609), Manila (1583). Audiences were set up in Buenos Aires , Caracas and Cuzco in the 17th and 18th centuries .

In the colonial empire, the audiences fulfilled not only the administration of justice and administration of justice, but also the function of making clear the supremacy of the king (and his laws) over the viceroys and governors . The audiences initially consisted of four judges ( oidores ) and a public prosecutor ( fiscal ), presided over by the respective viceroy or governor. In some territories, membership increased over time. Above the audiences there was only the Consejo de Indias , which could only be called upon as a higher court of appeal in individual cases and which in turn advised the audiences and the viceroys and governors presiding over them on legal issues.

Footnotes

1. ^ Horst Pietschmann : The state organization of colonial Ibero America. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1980. ISBN 3-12-911410-6 . P. 117.
2. ↑ Eduardo Pedruelo Martín: El Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid. In: Investigaciones históricas: Época moderna y contemporánea. ISSN  0210-9425 . Volume 23, 2003, pp. 273-282, here p. 274.
3. ^ Roberto Roldán Verdejo: Canarias en la Corona de Castilla . In: Antonio de Béthencourt Massieu (ed.): Historia de Canarias . Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 1995, ISBN 84-8103-056-2 , p. 273 (Spanish).
4. ^ Horst Pietschmann: The state organization of colonial Ibero America. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-12-911410-6 , pp. 182-185.
5. ^ Horst Pietschmann: The state organization of colonial Ibero America. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-12-911410-6 , p. 116.