Royal Audiencia of New Spain

Timeline

1. 1528–1534Mexico City · Mexico CityThe first audiencia consisted of five oidores, intended to check the power of the conquistadors, but the arrogance of judges such as Nuño de Guzmán and conflicts with local factions led to governance disorder, prompting the crown to decide on reorganization in the mid-1530s.
2. 1535Mexico City · Mexico CityIn November 1535 a decree of Charles V reorganized the audiencia, dissolving the first body and appointing a new bench of judges headed by Sebastián Ramírez de Fuenleal, who arrived simultaneously with Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza, forming a viceroy-audiencia co-governance arrangement.
3. 1535–1540Mexico City · Mexico CityThe reorganized audiencia, as the colony's highest court of appeals, heard civil and criminal cases and advised the viceroy on major policies; its authority consolidated in the late 1530s, becoming a mature exemplar of the audiencia system in Spanish America.