Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 11).djvu/32

said property might be spent and dissipated without these guardians being able afterward to give an account thereof to their said minors, which would result to the great harm and prejudice of the latter: therefore, to remedy the aforesaid, they resolved, and they did so resolve and decree, that the common probate judge, now or hereafter, in these islands be empowered to examine, not only in trust but on the party's petition, the accounts of all the guardianships and curatorships of minors in this court, and of the administration and conservation of the same; and he may proceed against those of whom he may be suspicious, or who administer and manage dishonestly, or waste, the goods and effects of the said minors; and may make in the case all the inquiries suitable and necessary, until he shall hand down a definite decision in such cases—for which, and for everything annexed to and pertaining to it, they gave him the requisite power and authority, in the sufficiency required by law. By this act they so voted, ordered, and decreed.

Before me:

An act decreeing that no one shall keep on his hat or sit down, while the auditor is taking his deposition.

In the city of Manila, in the Philipinas Islands, on the seventh of January, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia of the said islands declared that,