Cajas de comunidad: the corporate treasuries of the Indian towns

Indian towns in the Spanish Indies held property in common — land worked collectively, rents, and capital lent at interest — kept in a locked chest whose keys were divided, audited by a judge of the Audiencia and legally shielded from the crown's own emergencies. Thirty-seven laws in the code govern it. They also record the corregidores robbing it, and make that theft a capital crime.