TheRoyal Audience and Chancery of Panama in Tierra Firme (Spanish:Audiencia y Cancillería Real de Panamá en Tierrafirme) was agoverning body andsuperior court in the New Worldempire of Spain. TheAudiencia of Panama was the third Americanaudiencia after the ones ofSanto Domingo andMexico. It existed three times under various guises since it first creation in 1538 until its ultimate abolition in 1751.
The first Audiencia of Panama was created byCharles V by a royal decree of February 26, 1538. Its initial jurisdiction included the provinces ofTierra Firme (Castilla de Oro andVeragua), all land from theStrait of Magellan to theGulf of Fonseca, Nicaragua, until 1543 when most of theSouth American territories were assigned to a newaudiencia in Lima. A decree of May 23, 1539, removed the entire province ofNicaragua from the Audiencia of Santo Domingo and placed under the Panama one.
The Audiencia began functioning inPanama City in 1539 with the arrival of theOidores Francisco Pérez de Robles, Lorenzo Pérez de la Serna, Pedro de Villalobos, and Attorney Alonso de Montenegro. Pérez de Robles served as the firstaudiencia president and replaced Governor Pedro Vásquez de Acuña. Pérez de Robles carried out his duties until 1543, when the Audiencia was decreed abolished and replaced with anAudiencia of the Confines inGuatemala. During this period the Audiencia supervised various voyages of exploration. Ultimately, the administration of Pérez de Robles proved to be corrupt, resulting in several charges that led to a trial and destitution from office. The investigation and trial (juicio de residencia) were carried out by Pedro Ramírez de Quiñones, who had been appointedcorregidor of Panama andNombre de Dios.
On September 8, 1563,Philip II decreed the return of the Audiencia from Guatemala to Panama. The Province of Guatemala was transferred to the Audiencia of Mexico. The work of moving the Audiencia was overseen byLope García de Castro. The Audiencia began functioning again on May 15, 1565, under interim president Manuel Barrios de San Millán, before the arrival of its permanent president, Alonso Arias de Maldonado. The jurisdiction of the new Audiencia of Panama consisted of territories betweenBuenaventura in theNew Kingdom of Granada and the Gulf of Fonseca.
Law IV (Audiencia y Chancillería Real de Panamá en Tierrafirme) of Title XV (De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias) of Book II of theRecopilación deLeyes de las Indias of 1680—which compiles the decrees of February 30, 1535; March 1537; February 26 12, 1538; September 8, 1563, November 19, 1570; February 6, 1571; and September 10, 1588—describes the borders and functions of theAudiencia.[1]
In the City of Panama, in the kingdom of Tierrafirme, shall reside another Royal Audiencia and Chancery of ours, with a president, governor and captain general; fouroidores, who shall also be judges ofcriminal cases [alcaldes del crimen]; a crown attorney [fiscal]; a bailiff [alguacil mayor]; a lieutenant of the Gran Chancellor; and the other necessary ministers and officials, and which will have for district the province of Castilla del Oro untilPortobelo and its territory; theCity of Natá and its territory; the Governorate of Veragua; and by theSouth Sea towards Peru until the port of Buenaventura, exclusive; and from Portobelo towardsCartagena until theDarien River, exclusive, with theGulf of Urabá and Tierrafirme; bordering its district in the east and south with those of the Audiencias of the New Kingdom of Granada andSan Francisco of Quito, in the west with that of Santiago de Guatemala, and in the north and south with theNorth and South Seas. And we order that the governor and captain general of said provinces and president of the Royal Audiencia of these, have, use and exercise by himself the government of said Province of Tierrafirme and of all the district of the Royal Audiencia, in the same manner as the viceroys of theProvinces of Peru andNew Spain have, and attend by himself all matters and business which arises, regarding the government, and that theoidores do not interfere with these regards, nor that said President interfere in those matters of justice and that he sign with theoidores all that they sentence and decree. We also order that when our viceroys of Peru, as such, decree in certain matter of government, war and administration of our royal treasury, and direct certain dispatches on this to the president andoidores of our Royal Audiencia of Panama, they keep it and make it be kept and fulfilled completely by all, in all the ways and manners in which they have been ordered, without any delay.
In addition a decree of Philip III of July 19, 1614 reiterated, "that the president of Panama obey the viceroy of Peru and have with him regular communication." The Audiencia was abolished once again in 1718 due to bad conduct of its members. This time the Isthmus was placed under the authority of the viceroy and Audiencia of Peru.
Nevertheless, this arrangement resulted in problems and poor government for the region, so the crown once more established the Panama Audiencia in a decree of July 21, 1722. From 1739 on, the area of the Panama Audiencia formed part of the recently createdViceroyalty of New Granada. Due to economic problems in Tierrafirme, the crown ordered the final abolition of the Audiencia in a decree of June 20, 1751. A government headed by the regional military commander, the Comandancy General of Tierra Firme, was created in Panama, which was dependent on the viceroy of New Granada in administrative matters. The Comandancy General was originally to be dependent on the Audiencia of Lima in judicial matters, but in 1752 they were transferred to the Audiencia of Bogotá.