Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires

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The Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires (in Spanish completely: Audiencia y Cancillería Real de Buenos Aires ) was a court in Buenos Aires , an institution of colonial administration and at the same time a judicial district ( Real Audiencia ) of the Spanish crown. It existed from 1661 to 1671 in the Governorate of Río de la Plata and from 1783 as part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata . In 1812 it was dissolved in the course of the independence of Argentina .

The role of the Real Audiencias in the colonies

After the conquest of Central and South America ( Conquista ) by the Spaniards, King Charles I issued the “Laws on India” (Spanish: Leyes de Indias ) and the “New Laws” (Spanish: Leyes Nuevas ), in which he is the administration of the overseas colonies in the "Viceroyalty of New Castile" organized and regulated.

The Real Audiencias were responsible for the implementation of the laws and the support of the military governors . They fulfilled tasks in administration and finance that went far beyond that of a court according to today's understanding, especially as a separation of powers was unknown. In addition to a chairman and four judges (Spanish: Oidores ) there was a public prosecutor (Spanish: fiscal ), but also subordinate executive forces such as a bailiff (Spanish: alguacil mayor ), police forces, translators, etc.

The first Audiencia from 1661 to 1671

The Real Audiencia of Lima was created as such a court of appeal and administrative center at the same time as the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru in November 1542 . From 1559 the newly founded Real Audiencia von Charcas also supervised the area of ​​the Spanish colony in the Río-de-la-Plata area , which was created from 1536, initially from the city of Asunción on the Río Paraguay and after the division into two governorates (1617) in their southern part was administered from the city of Buenos Aires (re-established in 1580).

On April 6, 1661, King Philip IV ordered the establishment of an Audiencia in Buenos Aires. With a document dated June 20, 1661, the tasks and functionality of the Audiencia were specified, whose area of ​​responsibility extended to the area on the Río de la Plata, Paraguay and the province of Tucumán . Governor Alonso Mercado y Villacorta was to be installed as chairman, but was apparently overwhelmed by the double burden. Only with his successor Juan Martínez de Salazar as first chairman did the Audiencia begin its work. The judges (Spanish: Oidores ) were called Pedro de Ovalle, Manuel Muñoz de Cuellar, Juan Ximénez Lobatón and Pedro de Roxas y Luna. Diego Portales acted as the first public prosecutor (Spanish: fiscal ).

With a royal decree of December 31, 1671, King Charles II dissolved the Audiencia again; the implementation took place on October 26, 1672. Presumably the news that the Audiencia (under Governor Mercado) was not working as desired, those responsible at the court in Spain only had the usual delay of many months (due to the long journey times by ship between South America and Europe) and so the abolition was ordered and proclaimed when the company had long been running according to royal decree. From 1672 onwards, the Audiencia in Charcas was again responsible for the supreme jurisdiction on the Río de la Plata for more than a hundred years.

The second Audiencia in the Viceroyalty

Outline of the Viceroyalty, in blue and green the responsibility of the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires

On August 1, 1776, a separate viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was founded. King Charles III In the course of the reorganization of the colonial administration, the Audiencia was founded by decree of July 25, 1782. The viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo was the first president when it was founded on April 14, 1783, and there should also be a regent , four oidores and one Fiscal give.

The official inauguration took place on August 8, 1785. The first judges were Manuel de Arredondo, Alonso González Pérez, Sebastián de Velazco, Tomás Ignacio Palomeque and, as prosecutor, José Márquez de la Plata.

The area of ​​responsibility included the northern part of what is now Argentina ; with the corrigimiento de Cuyo , the province of Mendoza east of the main Andean ridge passed from the responsibility of the Real Audiencia of Chile to the sovereignty of the administration of Buenos Aires. It also included what is now Uruguay and Paraguay .

In Buenos Aires, the modern, centralist policy of the Bourbons was implemented faster and more intensively than in the long-established audiences. Contact with the Council of India (Spanish: Consejo de Indias ) intensified, since in the growing and economically flourishing colony many decisions had to be ratified by the highest authorities.

Dissolution upon independence

With the May Revolution of 1810, the independence movement took possession of Buenos Aires. The judges of the Audiencia were deposed on June 22, 1810 and taken to the Canary Islands . Until January 23, 1812, native Creoles were used in their place by the revolutionary government. Then the Court of Appeal (Spanish: Cámara de Apelaciones ) of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata replaced the function of the Audiencia.

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