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Acorregidor (Spanish:[korexiˈðoɾ]) was a local administrative and judicial official in theSpanish Empire. Corregidors were the representatives of theroyaljurisdiction over a town and its district. The name comes from the Spanish wordcorregir, meaning "to correct".Monarchs used corregidors to strengthen royal authority in their colonies or districts, and because of the ties to the crown they were often seen as oppressive.[1]
A corregidor held the position of highest authority over acorregimiento. In the Spanish Americas and the Spanish Philippines, acorregidor was often called analcalde mayor.[2] Also inSpanish America, the magistrate of an Indian community was calledcorregidor de Indios, and these positions were bought from the Spanish government. They began to be appointed in Pre-Spanish Imperial fourteenth centuryCastile.
The idea of appointingCrown officials to oversee local affairs was inspired by thelate-medieval revival of Roman law. The goal was to create an administrative bureaucracy, which was uniformly trained in the Roman model.[3] In spite of the opposition ofcouncil towns and theCortes (Parliament), Castilian kings began to appoint direct representatives in towns during fourteenth century. They were also calledjueces del salario oralcaldes veedores but the termcorregidor prevailed. The wordregidor often meanstown councillor in theSpanish language. Thus,co-regidor was the position intended to co-rule the town together with elected councillors.
The first monarch to make extensive use ofcorregidores wasAlfonso X, who ascended to the throne at the age of eleven. In order to consolidate royal authority and reward the newer nobility and certain greatmagnates who supported him he greatly expanded the use of the office. Some bishops and local lords were given the right to appointcorregidores in their territories.Henry III used them mostly inAndalusia, theBasque provinces andGalicia, areas where royal power was weakest.[4] The definitive consolidation of the institution occurred during the reign of theCatholic Monarchs (1474–1516).Corregidores were crucial for the state building process that both monarchs ushered in. Their job was to collect taxes, to report to the crown on the state of affairs in the area, and to ensure that royal jurisdiction was not interfered with by members of the church or the nobility. From 1480 onward, they—and all subsequent Spanish monarchs—never again appointed a noblecorregidor and instead relied exclusively on commoners with legal training to fill this office.[5]
As representatives of the royal power,corregidores administeredjustice, both criminal and civil, in thefirst instance (or in appeal in districts withalcaldes ordinarios), presided over the town council and ruled a district called acorregimiento. They were audited and controlled through thejuicio de residencia (a general audit and review at the end of their term in office) or by means ofvisitas (literally, 'visits'; more accurately, 'inspections'), which could occur at any point in their term in response to complaints. Thecorregimiento became the basic unit of state administration inearly modern Spain.
After theWar of Succession, the newBourbon kings introduced them into theAragonese territories, replacing thebailes andvegueres, who, nevertheless, had very similar functions to Castiliancorregidores.
The institution was established also inSpanish America during theconquest and theSpanish Philippines, where it was also known by the namesjusticia mayor andalcalde mayor[6] (not to be confused with thealcaldes ordinarios of thecabildo). InIndian areas the office was known as thecorregidor de indios.Corregidores essentially had the same powers and duties as governors (gobernadores), except that whereas the latter ruled over a province-sized area (called variously agobernación or aprovincia), thecorregidor administered a district-sizedcorregimiento. Thecorregidores were introduced in the mid-16th century to replace theencomiendas, which had become a source of autonomous power for the settlers. It was a decades-long process. The corregidores were given this privileged position either due to having influential families in Spain, or through paying the crown and in return being appointed.[7] The reformedAudiencia ofNew Spain began implementing them in the 1530s, but they were not successfully set up in theViceroyalty of Peru until the administration ofToledo. As theencomiendas were phased out,corregidores oversaw most of the localrepartimientos. Corregidores were the pillar for the crown, and the system of colonial domination. whether it was acacique or another representative that was used by the Spanish: as a broker between the indigenous Indians, and the Spanish conquerors, they answered to these corregidores. As a crown appointed official, they were served as a intermediary within the crown, the viceroy who was the top of the colonial administration, and of the riches of the Americas. The corregidores ensured that the product ofindigenous labor such as farming, mining, sweatshop produce and other production would be handed to the Spanish. The corregidores also served to manage the demands of landowners and merchants, who were eager to take the maximum amounts of profits from indigenous labor. One huge issue was that the indigenous population, due to demands from the higher ups, could not reach the large quotas and were dying due to newly brought diseases from the Europeans that they were not immune to, as well being overworked, and the brutality that the European colonizers conducted. Appointed by the crown, the corregidores served as the crown official, overseer, account taker, negotiator, and slave driver. The corregidores was known to be the wealthiest, most powerful and most hated official in the colony.[7]
By law neithercorregidores nor governors (nor viceroys, for that matter) could be persons who resided in the district in which they ruled, so that they should not develop ties to the locality, such that they remain disinterested administrators and judges. For this reason, they were also forbidden to marry in their district, although they could apply for exemptions from this restriction. However, in reality, they largely became enmeshed with local society, especially through financial ties, since their pay was based on a proportion of local royal revenues, and this was often an insufficient amount to cover living costs, much less the costs incurred in traveling to America.Corregidores often invested in the local economy, received loans from locals, and could abuse thereparto de comercio monopoly they oversaw, which often led to corruption.
Since thecorregidors held the highest stauts in their districts, the power that their position held often went unchecked. Most of thecorregidors had little or no experience in the area of ruling a colony and officiating because there were no qualifications, they only needed enough money to buy the position. With the combination of little experience and unchecked power, abuses of power fromcorregidors were common incolonial Spaish America. One major form of corruption wasrepartimientos de mercancías, or the forced distrubition of goods. This forced native populations to both sell and buy goods at unfavorale prices to them. Another example of power abuse by thecorregidors was the confiscation of land. They took land away from Indigenous people who were in debt, and then sold it to wealthy people in the colonies. Most of this confiscated land was sold to wealthy elites to expandhaciendas and other elite's settlements. These are just two of the abuses of power thatcorregidors took part in during their rule.[8]
For all of the powers thatcorregidors took advantage of both legitimately and illegitimately, there was lots of restrictions on the position. Some examples have already been previously mentioned such as they could not live in the district that they ruled nor could they marry someone from the district that they ruled over.Corregidor's male sons were also forbidden from marrying someone in their colony. These limitations can have negative impacts since their is no emotional tie to thecorregimiento. Some other restrictions that were placed on thecorregidor position was that they could not buy or build a house in his jurisdiction, could not establish an estate, and could not purchase a boat. They were also prohibited from personally trading in their district.[9]Corregidors were also held to a review at the end of their term. At the conclusion of acorregidors term, aconvention of residencia is held. This is an investigation into how thecorregidors behavior was during there time ruling the district. The covention of residencia is a public hearing held for 30 days, and members of the colony where thecorregidor resided over can bring up complaints and speak out about the conduct of thecorregidors.[10]
Nominally under theviceroys, the long distances from the viceregal and even provincial capitals meant that mostcorregidores acted independently. Therefore, since their office held both police power (as the main local administrative institution) and judicial power (as the court of first instance) in rural areas,corregidores were very powerful persons. Because most of thecorregidores in the Americas were not legally trained, they were assisted by lawyers who served as theirasesores, or "advisers." If their district were large enough to require it, they were further assisted by subordinate delegates, calledtenientes (lieutenantcorregidores). In municipal areas with acabildo,corregidores were to work with the council—for example, they recorded the annual election ofalcaldes ordinarios and other council officers—but they could not hear cases in the first instance, which was the duty of thealcaldes ordinarios. In these cases,corregidores functioned as the firstcourt of appeals, instead.
With theBourbon Reforms of the late 18th century, mostcorregidores were replaced by the more powerfulintendants.
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