ru and Guatemala from trading in those
islands and in China. In accordance with these decrees, you shall
regard as confiscated everything that may be traded in violation of
those orders.

It is not advisable to make any innovation in regard to the permission
which you request--namely, power to despatch vessels to Peru and
other points; but you should observe the decree.

The other points of your letters are being discussed, and an answer
will be sent to you upon the first occasion. Madrid, January 17,
one thousand five hundred and ninety-three.

_I The King_

By order of the king, our sovereign:

_Joan de Ybarra_.

Countersigned by the council.

[_In the margin, at the beginning of this document_: "Reply to Gomez
Perez das Marinas, governor and captain-general of the Philippinas
Islands."]

Two Royal Decrees

Lawsuits in the Philippine Islands

Don Phelipe, etc. When I ordered the suppression of my royal audiencia
and chancilleria resident in the city of Manila of the Filipinas
Islands, and established there a governor and lieutenant-governor
(the latter of whom is a lawyer), to take care of matters of justice,
one of my decrees was ordered to be promulgated, in which was declared
the order to be followed in the hearing of suits and causes that
might arise in the said islands. This is of the following tenor:

"Don Phelipe, by the grace of God, king of Castilla [his other titles
follow]. Inasmuch as, for certain reasons advantageous to my service,
I have resolved to order the suppression of my royal audiencia, at
present established in the Philipinas Islands, and have appointed
as my governor and captain-general of them Gomez Perez Dasmarinas,
knight of the order of Santiago, and you, the licentiate Pedro de
Rojas (at present my auditor in my said royal Audiencia), as his
lieutenant-governor and counselor, to determine matters of justice;
and inasmuch as, the said Audiencia not having existence, it is
advisable that for the peace and tranquillity of the said islands and
the citizens and inhabitants thereof, and the good administration
of justice therein, you should understand the system that you are
to observe and follow in the hearing and determination of the suits,
which were moved and were pending in the said Audiencia, or that will
be moved hereafter: I declare, desire, and will that in all cases you
shall hear, sentence, determine, and execute in the following form
and manner. All the sui