The gradual extension of the jurisdiction of the audiencia over encomiendas may be cited as an example of the changes in the authority of the tribunal and in its relation to the Council of the Indies. The first important legislation in regulation of the encomienda was the celebrated law of Malines, promulgated in that city by Charles V, on October 20, 1545, and enunciated at successive dates until 1610. The law prescribed the course which was to be pursued by the audiencia in suits between individuals relative to encomiendas or the Indians thereon. In these contentions the Council of the Indies and not the audiencia was the final arbiter. The duty of the latter tribunal was to collect evidence in these cases, taking the testimony of witnesses for both sides and remitting all papers, sealed, to the Council of the Indies. The council, on consideration of the evidence, rendered the final decision. The audiencia had to conclude its part of the investigation and file its report within a period of three months. This time limit was extended to six months in 1554. The purpose of this law was to guarantee justice in the assignment and retention of encomiendas by removing them from the control of the audiencias, whose magistrates, as experience had proved, often allowed themselves to be influenced by local prejudices. Encomiendas were to be assigned by the king, in theory at least, and no other authority save the monarch and his council could exercise jurisdiction over them. [150] The audiencia was, however, authorized to act as the protector of persons holding Indians on encomiendas, to see that they were not unjustly deprived of or wrongfully disturbed in their holdings. In case a person were thus deprived of his Indians, the audiencia was empowered to restore conditions to their former state. If the aggressor persisted, or cared to contest the right of his opponent to the Indians in question, the audiencia was ordered to observe the law of Malines, collecting all the evidence in the case, and forwarding it to the Council of the Indies for final decision. The frequency of litigation, however, and the vast number of unimportant cases which arose under the provisions of the law of Malines came to demand too much of the time and attention of the Council of the Indies, thereby causing many delays in suits involving encomiendas. In order to remedy this defect, Philip III, on April 17, 1609, conferred on the audiencia jurisdiction over all cases involving encomiendas, repartimientos, [151] tributes, and despoliations of Indians up to the value of a thousand ducats. [152] Cases involving a greater value were still to be settled in conformity with the law of Malines. Finally, in 1624 it was ordered that in suits which did not involve more than three Indians and in cases wherein the costs of litigation exceeded the amount in dispute, the decree of the governor should prevail. For obvious reasons, the audiencia could not concern itself with such