There were important developments, too, in the general administrative and judicial hierarchy, although with a mixture of the two functions. The hierarchy of officialdom, from the lowest grade to the highest, with especial regard to comparative judicial authority, ran from the _alcaldes_ of the towns through _merinos mayores_ or the _adelantados_, the _alcalde del rey_ (royal _alcalde_) of the court, and the _adelantado mayor_ (or chief justice of Castile) to the king himself. In some jurisdictions cases in first instance came before _alcaldes del rey_ (different from the above-named) with an appeal to _merinos menores_[43] and _merinos mayores_, or directly to the latter, and thence upward. The _merinos menores_ limited themselves to jurisdiction in certain criminal cases. The _merinos mayores_ were, like the _adelantados_, governors of large districts as well as judges in cases of appeal, for which latter purpose they were assisted by men acquainted with the law. They took the place of many of the former _adelantados_. The _adelantado mayor_ also had administrative functions, as the superior of the _merinos_ and other officials below him. Alfonso X employed the old term, _cort_, in the new and more restricted sense of a royal judicial tribunal which acted for the king. In later reigns this came to be known as the _chancillería_ (chancery), or _audiencia_,[44]--which latter name was eventually transmitted to the Americas for bodies exercising similar functions. [Sidenote: Diversity of jurisdictions and tendencies toward centralization.]