judicial functions of the church were represented by the archbishop's
court and the commissioner of the Inquisition. The Episcopal court,
which was made up of the archbishop, the vicar-general, and a notary,
tried cases coming under the canon law, such as those relating to
matrimony and all cases involving the clergy. Idolatry on the part
of the Indians or Chinese might be punished by this court. [86]
The Holy Inquisition transplanted to New Spain in 1569 stretched its
long arm across the great ocean to the Philippines, in the person of
a commissioner, for the preservation of the true faith. The Indians
and Chinese were exempted from its jurisdiction. Its processes were
roundabout, and must have given a considerable proportion of its
accused a chance to die a natural death. The Commissioner must first
report the offense to the Court in New Spain; if a trial was ordered,
the accused must be sent to Mexico, and, if convicted, must be returned
to the Philippines to receive punishment. [87]

The most peculiar feature of the old regime in the Philippines is
to be found in the regulations of the commerce of the islands. In
the _Recopilacion de leyes de los reinos de las Indias_, the code of
Spanish colonial legislation, a whole title comprising seventy-nine
laws is devoted to this subject. For thirty years after the conquest
the commerce of the islands was unrestricted and their prosperity
advanced with great rapidity. [88] Then came a system of restrictions,
demanded by the protectionists in Spain, which limited the commerce
of the islands with America to a fixed annual amount, and effectively
checked their economic development. All the old travelers marvel
at the possibilities of the islands and at the blindness of Spain,
but the policy absurd as it may seem was but a logical application
of the protective system not essentially different from the forms
which it assumes today in our own relations to Porto Rico, Cuba,