Cabildos of the Indies: the elective town council and the ceiling set on it

Every Spanish city in the Indies had a council that elected its own magistrates each year, and the code protects the freedom of that vote in detail — no oidor in the chamber, no governor soliciting votes, two senior regidores present at the count. The same code carries the ceiling: from 1620 the seats themselves were to be sold at public auction, and from 1621 no American city could send its own representative to court.