USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 23
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20. The electors in the two jurisdictions being responsible for the injury and detriment which the public may sustain by the bad conduct and in-
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capacity of the elected for the administration of justice and the manage- ment of the public interests, should have for their only objects in the elec- tion of ordinary alcaldes and the other officers the service of God, the king, and the public ; and, to prevent an abuse of that great trust, their choice should be directed to those persons who shall appear most suitable for those offices, by the proofs they may possess of their affection for the king, their disinterestedness, and their zeal for the public welfare.
21. The cabildo is hereby informed that it should exact from the gover- nors, previous to their taking possession, a good and sufficient surety, and a full assurance that they will submit to the necessary inquiries and exam- inations during the time they may exercise their employments; and that they will pay what may be adjudged and determined in that respect. This article merits the most serious attention of the cabildo, who is re- sponsible for the consequences which may result from an omission or neglect of exacting those securities froin the governor.
22. The offices of regidor and escribano of the cabildo may be sold; those officers shall also be allowed to assign them in the manner prescribed by the laws of this kingdom. In acknowledgment of this favor, and in consideration of the value that these offices will acquire by the facility of assigning them, by which they will be effectively transferred from one person to another, there shall be paid into the royal treasury, for the first assignment, one half the sum at which the said offices may be rated, and one-third of the same for every subsequent assignment thereof, exclusive of the royal custom of half annats, (receivable without any deduction in Spain; which custom shall also be paid by the ordinary alcaldes who may be yearly elected to those offices.
To render these assignments valid, the assignor should survive the same the term of twenty days, computing from the date thereof; and the as- signee should present himself to the governor within seventy days from the date of the same, provided with an authentic act substantiating the said assignment, as likewise the above mentioned twenty days that the assignor shall have survived the same. Should neither of these precau- tions be taken, the assignor shall forfeit the said office, which shall be deemed vacant to the profit of the king's demesne; and neither he nor his heirs can lay claim to any portion of the price at which the same may. have been sold.
25. The said assignments shall not be valid, unless made in favor of persons known to be capable, of the age of twenty-six years, and posses- sing the capacity and talents necessary to the common good of the re- public, and worthy of the cabildo, on account of the injury which would result therefrom should those officers be deficient in these qualifications. The said assignments shall be carefully executed and preserved by a pub- lic notary of the place at which they may be made.
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SECTION II.
Of the Ordinary Alcaldes.
1. The ordinary alcaldes shall have cognizance of all matters in dispute, either civil or criminal, between inhabitants residing within their jurisdic- tion, which shall extend throughout the city and the dependencies there- of, excepting those which may come within the cognizanee of the ecele- siastical, military, or other special court.
2. The ordinary alcaldes cannot interfere in affairs of government, which come exclusively within the jurisdiction and competency of the governor.
3. In all matters on which the cabildo may deliberate, the ordinary alcaldes, who may assist thereat, shall, during their year of office, have an equal vote with the regidors.
4. The alcaldes shall appear in public with decency and modesty, bear- ing the wan I of royal justice-a ba lge provided by law to distinguish the judges. When administering justice they shall hear mildly those who may present themselves, and shall fix the hour and the place of the audi- ence, which should be at 10 o'clock in the morning, at the city hotel; and for the decision of verbal causes, in the evening between 7 and 8 o'clock, at their own dwellings, and in none other.
5. One of the principal objects of justice being to prevent, effectually, those disorders which take place during the night, one of the alcaldes, as- sisted by his alguazils and the escribano, should go the rounds of the city ; and, in case a greater force should be necessary, they may not only de- mand it from those persons who may be present, but also from the corps- de-garde nearest thereto.
6. It is also the duty of the ordinary alcaldes to keep a watchful eye upon fornification, and to punish the same, and all other public offences, conformably to the laws; of which a sufficient detail will be given herein.
7. The alcaldes may hear and decide verbally in civil cases, when the demand shall not exceed twenty dollars, as also in criminal causes of little importance. They may also hear and decide verbally those which may exceed that sum, in case the parties interested shall consent thereto.
8. Causes legally brought before one of the judges shall be continued and determined in his tribunal, and neither the governor nor any other shall deprive him of the cognizance thereof. The governor, however, being required thereto by the parties, nay, by an order in writing, and suitable to the case, require and summon the alcalde to render speedy justice, conformably to law.
9. In cases of controversy, with respect to jurisdiction, between the governor and one of the alcaldes, or between these last, where one of them may claim the cognizance of a cause instituted with the other, either by reason of the said cause having been also instituted in his tribunal, or his
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supposing the same exclusively within his jurisdiction, they shall draw up a procès-verbal of the said controversy, in which they shall set forth their pretensions in a grave and judiciary style. The case shall remain in suspense until the decision of the superior, whom they shall be bound to consult, and to whom they shall deliver an exact copy of the proceed- ings, unless one of the judges may give way to the claim of the other, and thereby put an end to the said controversy. If, however, in the interval of the decision, one of the judges should proceed in, or take the last cog- nizance of, the aforesaid cause, he shall forfeit his claim to the same, which shall be immediately vested in the other.
10. If one of the parties pleading shall except against the alcalde who may have already taken cognizance of a cause, he shall not continue the same but in conjunction with the other; and, if this last should also be excepted against, he shall associate himself with a regidor, who shall take an oath to do his duty impartially, and to terminate the cause according to law, and as speedily as possible. Whatever may be done by the alcalde alone, after he may have been excepted against, shall be void, and have no effect. The oath taken by the party to the written act of exception, that he is mistrustful of the alcalle, shall be sufficient to render the same valid; but, if the party shall purpose to exclude him entirely from the cause, besides the aforesaid oath, he shall make known and substantiate the ground on which he relies for the support of his pre- tensions. If the judge should be related, even in the fourth degree, to the adverse party, or in such habits of friendship with him as to excite a suspicion of partiality, or prepossessed against the exceptor, in all these cases he shall be excluded from the hearing of the cause in controversy, which shall be committed to the other alcalde.
11. Two referees appointed, one by the alcakle, and the other by the exceptor, after being sworn to execute their office impartially, shall deter- mine whether the case be of the nature before mentioned ; and, if of the said nature, they shall exact the entire exclusion of the alcalde therefrom ; and, if a difference should! arise between the referees, a third, named by the judge, shall decide therein; which decision shall be indispensably binding.
12. The diversity of cases not permitting a special detail of the forms of proceeding therein, the alcaldes shall be guided by the formulary hereunto annexed; and shall consult with the counselor, to be appointed for that purpose, upon all doubtful cases which may occur in their practice, or which may not be provided for by the said formulary ; and shall approach, as nearly as possible, to the spirit of our laws for the administration of justice.
13. The ordinary alcaldes, accompanied by the algnazil mayor, and the escribano, shall, every Friday, make the visitation of the prison. They shall examine the prisoners, the causes of their detention, and the time
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of their imprisonment. They shall release the poor who may be detained for their expenses, or for small debts; and the jailer shall not exact from them any release fee. The alcaldes may not set at liberty any of the prisoners detained by order of the governor, or of any other judge, without their express consent.
14. They cannot release those who are imprisoned for debts due to the domain ; nor for fines imposed by law, unless the sum due shall be previ- ously deposited.
15. The governor, with the alcaldes, the alguazil mayor, and the escri- bano, shall, yearly, on the eves of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, make a general visitation of the prisons, in the manner prescribed by the laws of the Indies. They shall release those who have been arrested for criminal causes of little importance, or for debts, when the debtors are known to be insolvent; and shall allow them a sufficient term for the pay- ment of their creditors.
SECTION III.
Of the Alcalde Mayor Provincial.
1. The regidor alcalde mayor provincial shall bear the rod of justice, and shall have cognizance of crimes committed in the inhabited places with- out the cities and villages. Thefts, robberies, carrying away of property by force, rapes, as also treason, assaults. accompanied by wounds, or fol- lowed by death, setting fire to or burning down houses or crops, and other crimes of this nature, shall be within the competency of the said alcalde mayor provincial.
2. He may also take cognizance of the aforesaid crimes, although com. mitted in cities, when the offenders have quitted the same, and have with- drawn to the country with their plunder ; as also of murders or assaults committed on officers while in the exercise of their duties, or in the inter- val thereof, if the same are the effect of malice. If, however, the gover- nor, or one of the ordinary judges of the city, shall have previously taken cognizance thereof, the alcalde mayor provincial shall not interfere there- in, by reason that the jurisdiction of the same is vested in the ordinary alcalde. The judge, however, who shall have apprehended the offender, shall have the preference therein, even if the others should have preceded him.
3. Whenever it shall be known that the crime does not concern the tribunal of the Saint Hermandad, the alcalde mayor provincial shall refer the cognizance of the same to one of the ordinary alcaldes, without wait- ing until he may be required thereto.
4. The alcalde mayor provincial shall see that travelers are furnished
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with provisions at reasonable prices, as well by the proprietors of planta- tions as by the inhabitants of the places through which they may pass.
5. The principal object of the institution of the tribunal of the Saint Hermandad being to repress disorders, and to prevent the robberies and assassinations committed in unfrequented places by vagabonds and delin. quents, who conceal themselves in the woods, and attack travelers and the adjacent inhabitants, the alcalde mayor provincial should assemble a sufficient number of the commissaries or brothers of the St. Hermandad to clear his jurisdiction of those kinds of people, by pursuing them with spirit, seizing or putting them to flight.
6. For the purpose aforesaid, and conformably to the usage of the other Indian provinces within the domain of his majesty, the alcaldes mayores provinciales, their commissaries, and the brothers of the St. Hermandad, shall have the right of arresting, either within or without the city, all run- away negroes and fugitives, and may exact a reasonable fee therefor ; which right shall not be vested in any other person save the master of the fugitive slave.
The said fee is so much the more just, inasmuch as the alcalde mayor provincial, to comply with his duty, must, at his own expense, travel through the unfrequented places, for the benefit of the inhabitants.
7. The said officer shall render speedy justice in all matters within his competency, and from his judgment there shall be no appeal; otherwise it would be impossible to remedy the consequences that would result there- from. But,'on the other hand, his judgments shall be pronounced in strict conformity with the spirit of the laws, to which end he shall consult some lawyer; but, in the interim, he shall be guided by the instructions herein contained, which relate to the administration of justice and the forms of proceeding.
8. This office of the Ilermandad being created with a view to prevent those disorders which may be committed in unfrequented places, the alcalde mayor should make frequent excursions from the city. This duty consequently renders his employment incompatible with that of ordinary alcalde, to which he cannot be elected, unless he shall have previously obtained permission of the king, to commt a lieutenant, appointed by him- self, the duties of the St. Hermandad.
9. The said officer, and his lieutenants, should take an oath, of the form annexed to this abridgment ; he shall account to the governor for the ap- pointments he may have made, and shall notify him of the judgments he may have pronounced, to the end that the same may be put into execu- tion. Although this formality is not prescribed by any law, yet it is necessary for the purpose of preserving harmony and subordination, and for the purpose of procuring assistance.
10. In all controversies, with respect to jurisdiction, which may occur between tho tribunal of the St. Hermandad and any other tribunal of the
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province, the parties shall conform punctually to the instructions which have been given in the particular article, which relates to the ordinary alcaldes. The instructions which have been given in relation to excep- tions against judges, should also be strictly followed, as no altercation should take place on that subjeet between these officers.
SECTION IV.
Of the Alguazil Mayor.
1. The alguazil mayor is an officer charged with the execution of sentences and judgments rendered, as well for payments ordered, taking possession of goods for sale, and imprisonments, as for the punishment of crimes. He cannot be elected ordinary alcalde, unless he shall have ap- pointed a lientenant to discharge his duties, in the manner prescribed to the alcalde mayor provincial.
2. Recovery of moneys upon writs of execution, orders for taking pos- session of goods, and seizures of real property, shall be carefully executed by the alguazil mayor, he taking the fees allowed by law, and fixed by the tariff included in the present regulation.
3. The alguazil mayor shall also have the superintendence of the prisons, shall commission the jailers and keepers of prisons, after having presented them to the governor, that he may judge of their capacity for those offices, under the penalty of being deprived, for one year, of the right of nominating the same; which right shall, for that term, be vested in the governor. All the jail fees which the prisoners may pay, shall be for the use of the alguazil mayor.
4. The said officer cannot appoint as lieutenants any persons but such as are known to be suitable for those employments, who are young, and do not exercise any mechanical profession ; they shall be presented to the governor, and approved by him, and shall take the oath required. The alguazil mayor cannot appoint to the said office either the relations or domesties of the judges and officers, but he shall be allowed to change the said lieutenants, when he may have just reasons therefor.
5. The alguazil mayor and his lieutenants shall go the rounds, and shall visit the public places, both by night and day, to prevent noises and dis- putes, under the penalty of being suspended from their offices, and pay- ment of the damages that may result from their negligence. They shall arrest, without other authority, the offenders, and shall give immediate information thereof to the alcaldes. They shall not tolerate unlawful games, nor public and scandalous offences. They are also hereby inform- ed that, although they have the power of arresting any one without other authority, they may not release the same, under the penalty of being de- prived of their offices, and being declared incapable of holding any other.
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6. The alguazil mayor shall conform strictly to the articles which relate' to the prisons, and to the tariff which specifies the fees which are demand- able. He shall also assist with the judges ordinary at the visitations of the prisoners, which shall be made at the times prescribed by this regu- lation.
SECTION V.
Of the Depository General.
The depository general, whose duties are incompatible with those of a judge, cannot be elected ordinary alcalde, unless he may name a lieuten- ant, who may be charged with the care of the deposites.
2. Before entering upon the said office, the depositary general shall give good and sufficient sureties, who shall answer for the safety of the depo- sites, and who shall be approved by the governor, the alcaldes, and the cabildo. This surety shall be recorded in the book to be kept by the escribano of the cabildo, for the recording of the deposites ; in which he shall inscribe the day. month, and year, of the said surety.
3. The governor, the alcaldes, and the cabildo, shall carefully examine the books, which exhibit the suteties of the depositary general, the state of his property, and that of the said sureties, which shall be certified by the escribano of the cabildo, in order that the same may be verified the succeeding year, and the necessary order taken thereon.
4. If, by the said examination, it shall be found that the situation of the depositary general, or of his sureties, be such as to excite apprehension, they shall prevent him from exercising the duties of his office, until he shall have rendered his accounts, and given a better security.
5. The depositary general shall deliver on the first order the sums which may have been deposited with him, in the same coin in which he received them; to which the judges, and other officers competent thereto, should pay particular attention.
6. The depositary general shall record the deposites in a book similar to that of the escribano of the cabildo : he shall receive for the same, and for deposite fees, three per cent., as explained in the commission which he has received for the exerciso of his office.
SECTION VI.
Of the Receiver of Fines.
1. The receiver of fines (whose duties are incompatible with those of ordinary alcaldes) shall have cognizance of all matters in relation thereto, as also of those imposed by the judge ; of which la-t he shall keep and render an account, having for that purpose a book similar to that kept by
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the escribano for the same object ; in which they shall be entered accord- ing to date.
2. For the safety of the balance of the account rendered by the re- ceiver of fines, he shall give good and sufficient sureties, in the same manner as the depositary general. Examination shall be yearly made into the situation of the said sureties, which shall be changed if they be- come less substantial.
3. To the end that the receiver may fully discharge the duties of his office, and a certain knoweldge be acquired of the funds in his possession, the escribano, in whose presence the fines shall have been paid, shall ad- vise the escribano of the cabildo of the same, who shall enter them in a book, the leaves of which shall be marked by the governor. After which, the escribano of the calbildo shall inform the receiver thereof, who, by these means, will at once perceive the amount of the sums which he ought to receive; and the book of the cabildo will serve to make him render an account of the sums which are entered therein.
4. The receiver of fines cannot employ the proceeds thereof without the order or permission of his majesty, by reason that the same being the pro- perty of his majesty cannot be removed without his approbation. He shall dispose of that portion of them only which have been imposed by the judges in conformity to the orders he may receive, and not otherwise.
5. The receiver shall discharge, out of the aforesaid portion of fines, the drafts which may be drawn by the governor, the alcaldes, and the other judges, who shall restrain themselves to the sums which may be neces- sary.
6. The said receiver shall render a yearly account of the sams he may have received and paid in the execution of his office. His account shall be settled by the officers of finance appointed thereto in this province.
7. He shall be allowed a commission of ten per cent. on all sums which may be recovered and received by himself, or by thoso commis- sioned by him, for the recovery thereof.
SECTION VII. Of the Procurator General.
1. The procurator general of the republic is an officer appointed to assist the public in all their concerns, to defend them, pursue their rights and obtain justice, and to pursue all other claims which have relation to the public interest.
2. In consequence thereof. the procurator general, who is appointed solely for the public good, shall see that the municipal ordinances are strictly observed, and shall endeavor to prevent every matter or thing by which the said public might suffer.
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3. For these purposes he shall apply to the tribunals competent thereto, for the recovery of debts and revenues due to the city funds, in quality of attorney for the city. He shall pursue causes with the activity and dili- gence necessary to discharge him from the responsibility in which he would be placed by the slightest omission.
4. He shall see that the officers of the council or cabildo discharge strictly the duties of their offices; that the depositary general, the receiver of fines, and all those who are to give sureties, shall give such as are good and sufficient ; and in case of deterioration thereof, he shall demand the renewal, conformably to law.
: 5. He shall be present at, and shall interpose in, the direction of lands' and other public matters, to the end that nothing unsuitable or injurious may occur in the distribution of the same.
SECTION VIII. . ..
Of the Mayor-domo de Proprios.
1. The mayor-domo de proprios shall have the management of, and shall receive all that is comprised within the denomination of city funds; he shall give receipts to debtors, and shall record all sums which he may re- ceive, as also the expenditures he may make for account of the cabildo, in order that he may be able to render his accounts so soon as his year of office shall expire.
2. Ile shall discharge the drafts of the cabildo upon the rents "of the city, and none other. lle shall abstain from furnishing or lending any suis to any individuals whatever, under the penalty of being responsible therefor, and of being declared incapable of holding any office in the colony.
3. The construction and keeping in repair of bridges, within and with- out the city, shall not be defrayed out of the city funds ; this expense shall be borne by those who shall enjoy the benefit thereof, amongst whom the same shall be proportioned in the manner pointed out by law.
4. Whenever any public work shall be undertaken, either by the cabil- do or by individuals, care shall be taken that the same be substantial and durable. A regidor shall be named for that purpose, who, without any requital, shall inspect the said undertaking. 1
5. The expense of public mourning for the royal family shall be defray- ed from the city funds, with all the economy which the cabildo can adapt to these circumstances.
SECTION IX.
Of the Escribano of the Cabildo.
1. This officer shall preserve in his archives all the papers which may concern the cabildo, or its proceedings. He shall inscribe in a book all the
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securities and deposites which have relation to the depositary general ; and, in another book, those which relate to the receiver of fines. He shall, also, keep a third book for guardians and their sureties, ordinary and ex- traordinary, in which he shall also record the patents and commissions granted by his majesty, and shall take care to preserve the originals in the archives of the cabildo.
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