The system of waging
political campaigns by force of arms has stopped abruptly and
absolutely. Revolutions have become a matter of history. Ballots will
hereafter take the place of bullets, and politics will be conducted in
the same manner as in other orderly countries. Evolution, not
revolution, will be the characteristic of the future.
CHAPTER XX
LAW AND JUSTICE
Audiencia of Santo Domingo.--Legal system.--Judicial
organization.--Observance of laws.--Prisons.--Character of offenses.
In the year 1510 the Spanish government established in Santo Domingo
the first of the famous colonial audiencias, or royal high courts, the
list of which appears like a roll call of Spain's former glories.
Others were added later in Mexico, Guatemala, Guadalajara, Panama,
Lima, Santa Fe de Bogota, Quito, Manila, Santiago de Chile, Charcas
(now Sucre), and Buenos Aires. The audiencia of Santo Domingo at first
had jurisdiction over all the territory under Spanish dominion in the
new world, but upon the establishment, of the audiencia of Mexico and
others its jurisdiction was confined to the West India Islands, and
the north coast of South America.
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