{ "id": "fiscal-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion", "type": "entity", "name": "The crown attorney who had to keep the register of everyone licensed to cross: the Fiscal of the Casa de Contratación, his book of ships' and passengers' licences and their bonds, and a salary withheld until he had accounted for what he failed to collect — libro VIIII título III, leyes xvj to xxij", "summary": "Seven laws of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias constitute the crown attorney of the Casa de Contratación of Seville. He prosecutes in the court and attends the administrative side, sits last among the judges, is present at the closed sittings, is funded for proofs, has the crown's suits preferred to private ones, must keep a book of every licence granted to a ship or a passenger for the Indies, and goes unpaid until his yearly account of what he failed to collect is in.", "locale": "en", "tags": [ "colonial-institutions", "colonial-law", "law-of-the-indies", "legislation", "legal-history", "recopilacion", "casa-de-contratacion", "justice", "courts", "procedure", "migration", "record-keeping", "accountability", "real-hacienda", "public-finance", "carrera-de-indias", "seville", "spanish-empire", "americas", "institutions", "sixteenth-century", "seventeenth-century" ], "relations": [ { "rel": "related", "target": "recopilacion-de-leyes-de-indias" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "casa-de-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "consejo-de-indias" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "jueces-letrados-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "despacho-y-terminos-de-los-pleytos-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "solicitador-fiscal-y-relator-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "escribanos-de-camara-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "ministros-y-solicitadores-pagados-por-la-averia" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "contaduria-de-averias-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "piloto-mayor-y-cosmografos-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "veitia-norte-de-la-contratacion-1672" } ], "questions": [ "Who was the Fiscal of the Casa de Contratación and what did he do?", "Did Spain keep a register of the people licensed to emigrate to the Americas?", "What bonds did a passenger to the Spanish Indies have to give before sailing?", "Were the crown's own lawsuits given priority in the Casa de Contratación?", "How did the Laws of the Indies make an official account for money he had failed to collect?" ], "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "These seven laws stand in the Recopilación's título on the law-trained officers of the Casa de Contratación, after the laws on its bench and before those on the Solicitador and the Relator. In the fourth impression printed at Madrid in 1791 by the widow of Joaquín Ibarra for the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, they run from the rubric of ley xvj in the right-hand column of the printed folio 49 to the close of ley xxij in the right-hand column of folio 51, where the rubric of ley xxiij follows. The running heads of folios 49 and 51 read \"De los Jueces Letrados de la Casa.\" and that of folio 50 \"Libro VIIII. Título III.\"", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c2", "text": "The office is defined by a double attendance, and the law divides his time by the President's order rather than by rule. Ley xvj, under ordinance 2 of the Jueces Letrados given by Philip II, orders that the Fiscal attend the law judges in the Audiencia \"á pedir, y demandar, defender, y acusar en todos los casos, y cosas, que convinieren á nuestro Real servicio, y execucion de la justicia\", and also attend the President and treasury officials for good government and the collection of the royal revenue, \"dando tiempo á lo uno, y á lo otro, conforme á la órden, que tuviere del Presidente\". He is prosecutor, defender of the fisc and standing adviser to the administration at once.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c3", "text": "Two laws place him in the room. Ley xvij, from Philip II at the Pardo on 19 October 1566, gives him a seat in the Estrados with the President, treasury officials and law judges, in the same part of the chamber as they occupy, \"dándole el último lugar despues de todos los referidos\" — present among the judges, and ranked after all of them. Ley xviij, from the same king and the Princess Governor at Valladolid on 15 November 1557, requires him to be always present at the Acuerdos, the tribunal's closed sittings, and to attend everything they agree and vote on there.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c4", "text": "Ley xviiij funds his litigation and says where the money comes from. From Philip II at Madrid on 28 June 1561, it orders the President and treasury officials to see that the necessary diligences are done in matters touching the fisc and royal patrimony in Seville and its district \"en que no haya descuido, ni omision\", and to provide the Fiscal with whatever maravedís he needs to spend \"en probanzas, diligencias, y otras cosas de penas de Cámara, ó gastos de justicia, que en la dicha Casa hubiere\". The outlay passes in account on a public notary's signed testimony and the receipts of whoever took the money: the crown's own penalties pay for the crown's own proofs.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c5", "text": "Ley xx puts the crown's suits in front of everyone else's, in terms. From Philip II at Madrid on 9 June 1584, it orders the President and judges to see that the notaries, ministers and other officers take great care in the brief and good despatch of the suits touching the fisc and royal revenue \"de forma que sean preferidos á otros qualesquier de particulares, que en la Casa se siguieren\", and that the President appoint days each week on which such cases are to be seen, sentenced and determined. The queue is reordered by statute in favour of the party that pays the judges.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c6", "text": "The find of the block is ley xxj, which makes the crown attorney the registrar of lawful passage to the Americas. From Philip II at San Lorenzo on 18 September 1586, it recites three kinds of grace the crown gave — licences for private ships to sail to particular ports of the Indies on sureties that they will go straight there \"y no á otra ninguna\" and bring back testimony of compliance; licences for persons to pass to a declared province or island, on sureties that they will reside there some time and send the Casa testimony \"por donde conste que están residiendo allí\"; and licences to pass for a limited time on business, on sureties that they will return, failing which the penalty \"suele ser de docientos mil maravedís\".", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c7", "text": "The same law then orders the record and makes it a condition of the grant. The Fiscal is to keep a book \"en el qual vaya asentando, y asiente en relacion las licencias, como en ella se fueren despachando para ir á las Indias\", for ships and for persons alike, together with the summary of the bond instruments taken; he is to press for their execution when the time comes and report what is done. And the President and treasury officials \"no despachen ninguna de las dichas licencias, si el Fiscal no tomare la razon de ellas, y de las Escrituras de fianzas\" — an entry in the book is a precondition of the licence, not a record made after it.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c8", "text": "Ley xxij makes the officer account for the money that did not come in, and enforces it against his own pay. From Philip IV at Madrid on 25 November 1627, it obliges the Fiscal to send the Council of the Indies at the end of each year an authentic relation of the executory writs despatched by the Council and remitted to the Juez de cobranzas, and of any other despatches under which condemnations, fines and orders were to be collected, \"y asímismo razon de las diligencias, que se hubieren hecho, y causas porque no se hubieren cobrado\". The President and judges are to enforce it and \"no le libren, ni permitan pagar su salario, si no constare primero que ha cumplido con esta obligacion\".", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c9", "text": "What a flattering reading of these seven laws would leave out, and the leaves do not. The book of ley xxj is an instrument of control over who crossed the Atlantic as much as a safeguard against false licences: it exists so that bonds can be forfeited and people made to go where they said they would go and come back when they said they would. The two hundred thousand maravedí penalty is recited as customary rather than enacted, which leaves its measure with the tribunal. Ley xx is a statutory preference for the crown's suits over private litigants' in a court those litigants also had to use, and it is addressed to the same notaries and officers who served both. Ley xviiij pays the crown's proofs out of the penalties the same court imposed. The Fiscal sits with the judges at the Acuerdos and votes as a judge in deadlock under a neighbouring law of this título, while appearing before them as a party. And ley xxij's sanction had to be written at all, which is evidence the accounts were not coming in.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.8 }, { "id": "c10", "text": "What this entry does not establish. It reads seven laws of one título in one impression. It says nothing about whether the book of licences was in fact kept, what it contained, how many people or ships it registered, whether any bond was forfeited against a passenger who overstayed, whether any Fiscal's salary was withheld under ley xxij, or what the executory writs remitted to the Juez de cobranzas amounted to. Ley xvj carries no date in its margin, only \"Ordenanza 2. de los Jueces Letrados\", and that ordinance is not in this código and was not opened. The remaining nineteen laws of this título are read in sibling entries of this corpus, not here.", "sources": [ "recopilacion-1791-libro-ix-titulo-iii-fiscal-de-la-casa" ], "confidence": 0.9 } ], "takeaways": [], "faqs": [], "evidence_tier": "primary", "evidence": { "level": "industry_observation", "source_types": [ "paper" ] }, "moat_flag": true, "winning_edge": "English-language accounts of Spanish emigration control describe the licences and the bonds and cite the registers historians have worked from; almost none quotes the law that ordered the register kept. This entry prints it: ley xxj of 1586, which recites the three kinds of licence — a ship bound to one named port and no other, a person bound to a declared province who must send back proof of residence, a traveller bound to return on pain of a penalty customarily two hundred thousand maravedís — and then makes the crown attorney's book a condition of the grant, ordering the President and treasury officials to despatch no licence at all \"si el Fiscal no tomare la razon de ellas\". Around it stand the six laws that made the office: a double attendance in court and in administration with his hours set by the President, a seat among the judges and last among them, compulsory presence at the closed sittings, litigation funded out of the court's own penalties, a statutory preference for the crown's suits over private ones, and a salary stopped until he had explained what he failed to collect. The costs are on the record beside them.", "confidence": 0.85, "last_verified": "2026-11-14", "media": [], "x": {}, "canonical_url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/k/fiscal-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion", "api_url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/api/k/fiscal-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion.json", "jsonld": { "@context": "https://schema.org", "name": "The crown attorney who had to keep the register of everyone licensed to cross: the Fiscal of the Casa de Contratación, his book of ships' and passengers' licences and their bonds, and a salary withheld until he had accounted for what he failed to collect — libro VIIII título III, leyes xvj to xxij", "description": "Seven laws of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias constitute the crown attorney of the Casa de Contratación of Seville. He prosecutes in the court and attends the administrative side, sits last among the judges, is present at the closed sittings, is funded for proofs, has the crown's suits preferred to private ones, must keep a book of every licence granted to a ship or a passenger for the Indies, and goes unpaid until his yearly account of what he failed to collect is in.", "url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/k/fiscal-de-la-casa-de-la-contratacion", "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html", "dateModified": "2026-11-14", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Recopilación de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, libro VIIII título III \"DE LOS JUECES LETRADOS, FISCAL, SOLICITADOR, y Relator de la Casa\" — leyes xvj, xvij, xviij, xviiij, xx, xxj and xxij, the seven laws that constitute the crown attorney of the Casa de Contratación of Seville: his double duty in the court and in the administrative side, his seat last in the Estrados, his standing presence at the Acuerdos, the money the tribunal had to put in his hands for proofs, the preference the crown's own suits took over private ones, the book in which he had to enter every licence granted to a ship or a passenger for the Indies and every bond taken for it, and the annual account of uncollected condemnations on which his salary was made to depend. The laws read here run from the rubric of ley xvj in the right-hand column of the printed folio 49 to the close of ley xxij in the right-hand column of folio 51, where the rubric of ley xxiij follows. The running head of folio 49 reads \"De los Jueces Letrados de la Casa.\", that of folio 50 \"Libro VIIII. Título III.\" and that of folio 51 \"De los Jueces Letrados de la Casa.\" Ley xvj, rubric \"Que el Fiscal asista con los Jueces, conforme ordenare el Presidente.\", margin \"D. Felipe II Ordenanza 2. de los Jueces Letrados.\", whose text reads \"MAndamos que el Fiscal de la Casa asista con los Jueces Letrados en la Audiencia á pedir, y demandar, defender, y acusar en todos los casos, y cosas, que convinieren á nuestro Real servicio, y execucion de la justicia: y tambien acuda, y asista con el Presidente, y Jueces Oficiales, para lo que tocare al buen gobierno, y recaudo de nuestra Real hacienda, y á las demas cosas, que debe por su oficio, dando tiempo á lo uno, y á lo otro, conforme á la órden, que tuviere del Presidente.\" Ley xvij, rubric \"Que el Fiscal de la Casa se asiente despues de los Jueces Oficiales, y Letrados.\", margin \"D. Felipe II en el Pardo á 19 de Octubre de 1566.\", whose text reads \"ORdenamos que el Fiscal de la Casa de Contratacion de Sevilla tenga asiento en los Estrados, con el Presidente, Jueces Oficiales, y Letrados, en la misma parte que ellos le tuvieren en su Audiencia, dándole el último lugar despues de todos los referidos.\" Ley xviij, rubric \"Que el Fiscal de la Casa se halle presente á los Acuerdos.\", margin \"El mismo y la Princesa Gobernadora en Valladolid á 15 de Noviembre de 1557.\", whose text reads \"MAndamos que el Fiscal de la Casa se halle siempre presente á los Acuerdos, que el Presidente, y Jueces tuvieren, y asista á todas las cosas, que acordaren, y votaren en ellos.\" Ley xviiij, rubric \"Que el Presidente, y Jueces Oficiales provean de dinero para los negocios Fiscales.\", margin \"El mismo en Madrid á 28 de Junio de 1561.\", whose text reads \"MAndamos al Presidente, y Jueces Oficiales de la Casa, que en los negocios tocantes á nuestro Fisco, y Patrimonio Real en la dicha Ciudad, y su comarca, tengan cuidado de proveer, que se hagan las diligencias convenientes, y necesarias en que no haya descuido, ni omision, y provean al Fiscal de qualesquier maravedís, que convenga gastar, y distribuir en probanzas, diligencias, y otras cosas de penas de Cámara, ó gastos de justicia, que en la dicha Casa hubiere: y con testimonio signado de Escribano público, y cartas de pago de quien lo recibiere, se haga bueno, y pase en cuenta.\" Ley xx, rubric \"Que el Presidente, y los Jueces de la Casa hagan que se vean, y despachen con brevedad los pleytos Fiscales, y el Presidente señale los dias.\", margin \"El mismo allí á 9 de Junio de 1584.\", whose text reads \"ORdenamos y mandamos, que el Presidente, y Jueces de la Casa de Contratacion atiendan, y provean, que los Escribanos y los demas Ministros, y Oficiales tengan mucho cuidado en el breve, y buen despacho de los Pleytos, y negocios tocantes á nuestro Fisco, y Real hacienda, que ante ellos pendieren, y se trataren, de forma que sean preferidos á otros qualesquier de particulares, que en la Casa se siguieren; y para que en su determinacion le haya, y pueda nuestro Fiscal alcanzar justicia con brevedad, el Presidente señale los dias que le pareciere, en que se vean, sentencien, y determinen cada semana.\" Ley xxj, rubric \"Que el Fiscal tenga libro de las licencias de Navíos, y pasageros.\", margin \"El mismo en S. Lorenzo á 18 de Septiembre de 1586.\", whose text reads \"POrque Nos concedemos algunas licencias, para que Navíos particulares vayan á diferentes Puertos de las Indias, precediendo fianzas de las personas, que obtienen esta gracia á satisfaccion del Presidente, y Jueces Oficiales de la Casa de Sevilla, sobre que irán en derechura á las partes por donde se les concede, y no á otra ninguna, y de traer, y presentar testimonio en la Casa de haberlo cumplido: y asímismo damos licencia á muchas personas para pasar á diferentes partes de las Indias, dando fianzas de que irán á la Provincia, ó Isla donde se declara, y residirán en ella algun tiempo, y enviarán testimonio á la Casa, por donde conste que están residiendo allí: y damos otras licencias para pasar algunas personas á las Indias por tiempo limitado á negocios, que les conviene, con fianzas de que volverán en el dicho tiempo, y si no lo cumplieren, pagarán en la Casa la pena que se les impone, y suele ser de docientos mil maravedís: Para que todo lo susodicho tenga cumplido efecto, mandamos que el Fiscal de la Casa tenga libro, en el qual vaya asentando, y asiente en relacion las licencias, como en ella se fueren despachando para ir á las Indias, y á qualesquier partes de aquellos Reynos, Provincias, é Islas los dichos Navíos, y Personas: y asímismo la relacion de las Escrituras de fianzas, que sobre esto se recibieren, y que á su tiempo tenga mucho cuidado de pedir la execucion, y cumplimiento de ellas, y de avisarnos lo que en esto se hiciere. Y mandamos á los dichos Presidente, y Jueces Oficiales, que no despachen ninguna de las dichas licencias, si el Fiscal no tomare la razon de ellas, y de las Escrituras de fianzas para los dichos efectos.\" Ley xxij, rubric \"Que el Fiscal de la Casa envie cada año relacion de lo cobrado de condenaciones hechas por el Consejo, y diligencias que se hicieren.\", margin \"D. Felipe IIII en Madrid á 25 de Noviembre de 1627.\", whose text reads \"ORdenamos que el Fiscal de la Casa tenga obligacion de enviar á nuestro Consejo en fin de cada un año relacion auténtica de las Executorias despachadas por nuestro Consejo, y remitidas al Juez de cobranzas, y de otros qualesquier Despachos, en virtud de los quales se haya de poner cobro en condenaciones, multas, y proveidos: y asímismo razon de las diligencias, que se hubieren hecho, y causas porque no se hubieren cobrado. Y mandamos que el Presidente, y Jueces de la Casa así lo hagan cumplir, y executar, y no le libren, ni permitan pagar su salario, si no constare primero que ha cumplido con esta obligacion.\"", "url": "https://books.google.com/books?id=t5EbF6Y1EM4C&pg=PA49" } ], "@type": "Article", "headline": "The crown attorney who had to keep the register of everyone licensed to cross: the Fiscal of the Casa de Contratación, his book of ships' and passengers' licences and their bonds, and a salary withheld until he had accounted for what he failed to collect — libro VIIII título III, leyes xvj to xxij" } }