Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/92

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION. Povertv of the crown. iNTRoD. judicial department, his authority, during the latter •part of the period under review, seems to have been chiefly exercised in the selection of officers for the higher judicatures, from a list of candidates presented to him on a vacancy by their members concurrently w^ith his privy council. ^^ The scantiness of the king's revenue correspond- ed with that of his constitutional authority. By an ancient law, indeed, of similar tenor with one familiar to the Saracens, the sovereign was entitled to a fifth of the spoils of victory.^^ This, in the course of the long wars with the Moslems, would have secured him more ample possessions than were enjoyed by any prince in Christendom. But sev- eral circumstances concurred to prevent it. lus causes. Thc loug miuoritics, with which Castile was af- flicted perhaps more than any country in Europe, fre- quently threw the government into the hands of the 8C The civil and criminal business of the kingdom was committed, in the last resort, to the very ancient tribunal of alcaldes de casa y corte, until, in 1371, a new one, entitled the royal audience or chancery, •was constituted under Henry II., with supreme and ultimate jurisdic- tion in civil causes. These, in the first instance, however, might be brought before the alcaldes de la corte, whicii continued, and has since continued, the high court in criminal matters. The audiencia,ox chancery, con- sisted at first of seven judges, whose number varied a good deal afterwards. They were appc^nted by the crown, in the manner men- tioned in the te.xt. Tiieir salaries were such as to secure their inde- pendence, as far as po.ssible, of any undue influence ; and this was still further done by the supervision of cortes, whose acts show the deep solicitude with which it watched over the concerns and conduct of this important tribunal. For a no- tice of the original organization and subsequent modifications of the Castilian courts, consult Marina, (Teoria, part. 2, cap. 21-25.) Riol, (Informe, apud Semanario Erudito, tom. iii. pp. 129 et seq.) and Sempere, (Histoire des Cortes, chap. 15,) whose loose and desul- tory remarks show perfect famil- iarity with the subject, and pre- suppose more than is likely to be found in the reader. 87 Siete Partidas, part. 2, tit. 20, leyes 5, 6, 7. — Mendoza noti- ces this custom as recently as Phil- ip II. 's day. Guerra de Granada, p. 170.