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Colombia Colonial Administration
The administrative structure paralleled the social
pyramid in
that peninsulares appointed by the crown generally
controlled the higher jurisdictional levels, and criollos
could
compete only for the lower posts. Two councils in Spain
presided
over the colonies. The House of Trade (Casa de
Contratación)
controlled all overseas trade. The Supreme Council of the
Indies
(Consejo Supremo de las Indias) centralized the
administration of
the colonies and had legislative, executive, and judicial
functions. As the king delegated increasingly more
authority to
this council, it effectively became the ruler of the
colonies.
The viceroyalty, headed by a viceroy, was the highest
authority
in the colonies. The next level of jurisdiction was the
audiencia, a regional court consisting of various
judges and
a president. The Real Audiencia de Santa Fe, which
presided over
present-day Colombia, was instituted in 1550. The
audiencia
had jurisdiction over the governorships, which in turn
controlled
the cities. Governors, appointed by the crown, had
administrative
and judicial functions and, in areas considered dangerous,
military
duties. Cities, the lowest jurisdictional level, were run
by city
councils, or cabildos. Cabildos initially
were
elected by popular vote, but later seats were sold by the
crown,
and positions on the council thus lost their democratic
character.
Despite their low position on the administrative pyramid,
cabildos had the greatest impact on the day-to-day
lives of
citizens in the local municipalities.
The cabildos became the first effective agency
of civil
government, regularizing the processes of government and
tempering
the authority of the governor, even though their
membership was
composed of his subordinates. They included a varying
number of
magistrates or aldermen, depending on the size of the
community,
and two mayors. The mayors on the cabildo were
elected
annually and initially acted as judges in courts of first
instance
with criminal and civil jurisdiction. Appeals from their
decisions
could be taken to the local governor or to a person
functioning as
his deputy and finally to the royal court of jurisdiction.
During
times of crisis, the town citizens of importance might be
invited
to sit with the cabildo in what was called the open
council.
By increasing criollo participation in government, the
open council
contributed to the movement leading to the war for
independence.
The royal courts in the colonies, unlike their
counterparts in
Spain, performed administrative and political as well as
judicial
functions. The courts were empowered to limit the
arbitrary use of
power by the viceroy or any subordinate official in the
New World.
Major courts existed in the higher jurisdictions, such as
the
viceroyalty; subordinate courts existed at lesser
administrative
levels. Under the Supreme Council of the Indies, the
viceroys, as
the direct representatives of the sovereign, exercised
royal
authority in all civil and military affairs, in the
secular aspects
of church affairs, and in the supervision of the
administration of
justice. Subject to the overall supervision of peninsular
authorities, the executive officers also exercised a
degree of
legislative power.
Two additional governmental practices designed to
oversee the
colonial authorities were the residencia (public
judicial
inquiry) and the visita (secret investigation). The
residencia was performed at the end of an
official's term of
office by a judge who went to the chief seat of the
jurisdiction of
the official in question to hear anyone who wished to make
charges
or to offer testimony concerning the official's
performance in
office. The visita could take place at any time
without
warning during an official's tenure and was performed by
an
inspector who might, in the performance of his task, sit
with a
court in public hearings.
Data as of December 1988
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