The procurator of number of the Real Audience of Mexico, 1776-1824.Proposal for a history of the administration of justice in the Old Regime through their officers

Abstract

New Spain, 1807. An eleven years old child was given in property the office of procurador de número of the Real Audiencia de México. This Court Attorney’s office was a venal and public office, and a very important employment in the administration of justice: they managed the lawsuits in representation of litigants. Was this assignation an act of corruption of the Spaniard authorities in America? Dubiously. Four years later, the Consejo de Regencia confirmed this child on charge. This example gives us the opportunity of explores the world of justice and institutions in the latest years of the Bourbon’s rule in America. After reforms, those kind of medieval offices lived together with other modem employments in public administration. The survival of those ancient officers in such areas like justice administration gives us the chance of inquiring about the structure of institutions, and about the meaning and nature of justice in Eighteenth Century Spanish Monarchy. Through this, there is an invitation to consider the ways of research and the results given by the historiography on the subject.