authorities at their request. The commission of a crime in the church or its dependencies precluded immunity, which was also withheld from persons convicted of high treason, although they might take refuge in a privileged church; from those suspected of heresy; heretics; jews; forgers of royal or apostolic letters or patents; the defrauders of any bank or public treasury; false coiners of coin current in the country; violaters of churches, or destroyers of church property; persons who escaped from prison, from the officers of justice, from exile, public labours or the galleys; blasphemers; sorcerers; the excommunicated; debtors and thieves.
Thus it appears, that immunity was available only in cases of manslaughter; but if the person accused had been guilty of murder, before it could be proved against him, he generally took care to make his escape and elude the punishment. The same may be said of the greater number of the instances to which immunity was denied; for few suffered, like Joab, after having taken hold of the horns of the altar.
The other tribunals in Lima were el Consulado, or the Board of Commerce, founded in 1613. It had a prior and two consuls, who decided in all mercantile affairs; they had an asesor or legal adviser, secretary, notary and porters; the Tribunal of the Holy Crusade, founded in 1574, for the promulgation of the pope's bulls, and collection of this part of the royal revenue; the Royal Treasury, established in 1607, for the receipt of all treasure appertaining to the crown, and the payment of all persons in the employ of the government; the Tribunal of General Accompts; that of Temporalities, for recovering the value or rents of the possessions and property of the ex Jesuits; and, lastly, the Tribunal of the Protomedicato, for the examination of students in medicine and surgery: it was composed of a president, a fiscal and two examiners.
CHAPTER X.
Taxes, Alcavala. … Indian Tribute. … Fifths of the Mines. … Lances. … Stamped Paper. … Tobacco. … Media Anata. … Aprovechamientos. … Composicion and Confirmacion of Lands. … Royal Ninths. … Venal Offices. … Estrays. … Confiscations. … Fines. … Vacant Successions. … Almoxarifasgo. … Corso. … Armada. … Consulate. … Cirquito. … Vacant Benefices. … Mesada Ecclesiastica. … Media Anata Ecclesiastica. … Restitutions. … Bulls.
The system of taxation in the Spanish colonies was as complicated as their law suits in the courts of justice, and the ingenuity of the theory practised in the exchequer can only be equalled by the resignation of the people to the practice. The alcavala was the most ancient and most productive tax in the colonies; it was granted by the Cortes to the King of Spain, in 1342, to defray the expenses of the war against the Moors. At that time it was rated at five per cent., but in the year 1366 it was increased to ten per cent. The order for the collection of this tax in Peru was issued in 1591; it was first fixed here at two per cent., and afterwards increased, according to the exigences of the state, and the submission of the people, to six and a half per cent.
This tax was levied on every sale and resale of moveable and immoveable property; all merchandize, manufactured produce, animals, buildings, in fine, all kinds of property were liable to this impost the moment they were brought into the market, and all contracts specified its payment. Retail dealers generally compounded according to their stock and presumed sale, and were compelled to abide by the composition.
Those indians who became subject to the law of conquest, that is, all whose forefathers did not voluntarily resign themselves to the Spanish authorities, and solicit a curate, without causing any expense to be incurred in their discovery or subjection, paid an annual tribute from the age of eighteen to fifty. This tribute varied very much in different provinces; some paying seven dollars and a half a year, others only two and a half. An indian might redeem his tribute by advancing a certain sum, proportionate to his age and the annual tribute. The tax was collected by the subdelegados, governors of districts, who were allowed six per cent. on the sum gathered, according to the tribute roll, which was renewed every five years by a commissioner called the visitador. This direct tax was more irksome to the people than any other, and caused much general discontent, although those who paid it enjoyed privileges more than equal to the impost.
All metals paid to the King a fifth, for the collection of which proper officers and offices were established. Gold in its native state was carried to the royal foundry, casa real de fundicion, where it was reduced to ingots, each of which was assayed and marked, its quality and weight being specified; after which the fifth was paid, and then it was offered for sale. Silver was also taken in its pure state, called piña, and it was contraband to sell it until it had been melted, and each bar marked in the same manner as the gold. Base metals were subject to a similar impost, but reduced to bars by the miners, who afterwards paid the fifth.
Titles paid an annual fine of five hundred dollars each to the King, unless the person in possession redeemed it by paying ten thousand dollars. This tax, although unproductive in some parts, was worthy of attention in Lima, where there were sixty-three titled personages, marquises, counts and viscounts.
All judicial proceedings in the different courts of justice, civil, criminal, military and ecclesiastical; all agreements, testimonies, and public acts, were required to be on stamped paper, according to a royal order dated in 1638. It was stamped in Spain, bearing the date of the two years for which it was to serve, or was considered to be in force; after which term it was of no use. The surplus, if any, was cut through the stamp, and sold as waste paper, and the court took care to supply another stock for the two succeeding years. If the court neglected to do this, the old paper was restamped by order of the Viceroy, bearing a fac simile of his signature. There were four sorts of this paper, or rather paper of four prices. That on which deeds and titles were written, or permissions and pardons granted, cost six dollars the sheet; that used for contracts, wills, conveyances and other deeds drawn up before a notary, one dollar and a half; that on which every thing concerning a course of law before the Viceroy or Audience was conducted, half a dollar; and for writings presented by soldiers, slaves, paupers and indians, the fourth class was used, and cost the sixteenth of a dollar each sheet. The first sheet of the class required in any memorial or document, according to the foregoing rules, was of that price, but the remainder, if more were wanted, might be of the fourth class or lowest price, or even of common writing paper.
Tobacco was a royal monopoly, a price being fixed by the government on the different qualities of this article, according to the province in which it was grown; at such price the whole was paid for; after which it was brought to Lima, where it was sold at an established rate at the estanco, or general depôt. If any person either bought or sold tobacco without a license, confiscation of the article and a heavy fine were the result, and frequently the whole property of the offender became a forfeit. On an average, the King purchased it at three reals, three eighths of a dollar, per pound, and sold it again at two dollars; but such was the number of officers employed to prevent smuggling, collect the tobacco, and attend the estanco, that, on the whole, the revenue suffered very considerably, although the profit was so great. Snuff was not allowed to be manufactured in Peru; one kind called polvillo was brought from Seville, and rappee from the Havanna; but both were included in the royal monopoly. To secure the tax imposed on tobacco, no one could cultivate it without express permission from the Director; and, on delivery, the planter was obliged to make oath as to the number of plants which he had harvested; also that he had not reserved one leaf for his own use, nor for any other purpose. This tyrannical monopoly produced more hatred to the Spanish government than all the other taxes. Not only every tobacco planter, but every consumer joined in execrating so disagreeable an impost.
The media anata, or moiety of the yearly product of all places or employments under government, was paid into the treasury, or rather reserved out of the stipend when the payment was made by the treasury. This moiety was deducted for
