Countersigned by the council. [_In the margin, at the beginning of this document_: "Reply to Gomez Perez das Marinas, governor and captain-general of the Philippinas Islands."] Two Royal Decrees Lawsuits in the Philippine Islands Don Phelipe, etc. When I ordered the suppression of my royal audiencia and chancilleria resident in the city of Manila of the Filipinas Islands, and established there a governor and lieutenant-governor (the latter of whom is a lawyer), to take care of matters of justice, one of my decrees was ordered to be promulgated, in which was declared the order to be followed in the hearing of suits and causes that might arise in the said islands. This is of the following tenor: "Don Phelipe, by the grace of God, king of Castilla [his other titles follow]. Inasmuch as, for certain reasons advantageous to my service, I have resolved to order the suppression of my royal audiencia, at present established in the Philipinas Islands, and have appointed as my governor and captain-general of them Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, knight of the order of Santiago, and you, the licentiate Pedro de Rojas (at present my auditor in my said royal Audiencia), as his lieutenant-governor and counselor, to determine matters of justice; and inasmuch as, the said Audiencia not having existence, it is advisable that for the peace and tranquillity of the said islands and the citizens and inhabitants thereof, and the good administration of justice therein, you should understand the system that you are to observe and follow in the hearing and determination of the suits, which were moved and were pending in the said Audiencia, or that will be moved hereafter: I declare, desire, and will that in all cases you shall hear, sentence, determine, and execute in the following form and manner. All the suits that were pending in the said Audiencia, and were not concluded on trial, you shall resume in the condition in which they were left, and they shall be prosecuted before you. You shall pass sentence upon them; and if appeal is made by the parties, or either one of them, from your decisions, you shall submit the appeal to the president and auditors of my royal Audencia residing in the city of Mexico, in Nueba España. You shall likewise refer to my said Audiencia of Mexico the suits that may have received sentence on trial in the said Audiencia, if appeal has been made from the sentence, so that the cases may be prosecuted before it, and sentenced in review. And if any suits were sentenced in review in the said Audiencia of the said Philipinas Islands, and the execution of the sentences is demanded, then you are authorized to have them executed, as well as the sentences given on trial in the said Audiencia in suits pending therein, and on which no appeal was made, and if the said sentences on trial were passed in a case where judgment was rendered. Likewise I declare, and it is my will, that you may hear and try the suits regarding Indians