Interpreters of the Audiencia

297. Item: We ordain and command that there shall be a body of interpreters for our said Audiencia; and that before they are admitted to exercise that office they shall swear in due form to perform their duties well and faithfully, in declaring and interpreting the case or matter committed to them, clearly and openly, without concealment or addition—­declaring simply the fact of the crime, business, or testimony under examination.  They shall likewise swear not to be partial to either side, or to favor one more than the other, and not to accept any reward for their service beyond the fee assessed and fixed for them, under the penalty decreed for forswearers, and the damages and interests of the parties, and a sevenfold return of the amount received, and removal from office.

298. Item: They shall receive no gifts or promises from Spaniards, or from the Indians, or from other persons who shall have or shall expect to have businesses or suits with them.  They shall not accept such gifts or promises, of great or small amount, even for articles of food or drink; and even if these are voluntarily offered, without any request for them being made by the said interpreters or by others.  In case of violation of this ordinance, they shall pay sevenfold what they have taken, for our exchequer; and charges thereof shall follow the procedure prescribed for charges against the judges and officials of our Audiencia.

299. Item: We ordain that the said interpreters shall not listen, in their own houses or out of them, to Indians who shall come to plead or do business in our Audiencia; but shall take them, without listening to them, to the said Audiencia, that there the case may be heard and determined in conformity with justice.  In case of violation of this ordinance, they shall suffer for the first offense a penalty of three pesos for the court-room; for the second, double the penalty applied as aforesaid; and for the third, in addition to the said double penalty, they shall be dismissed from office.

300. Item: They shall not arrange the pleadings of Indians, nor be attorneys or solicitors in their cases and affairs, under the penalty prescribed in the preceding ordinance, applied as aforesaid.

301. Item: They shall be present at the meetings of court, at hearings, and at inspections of prisons, on every day that is not a holiday.  At least in the afternoons they shall be present in the house of the president and auditors.  All the above-mentioned duties, and each and every part and matter thereof, they shall take care to distribute among themselves in such a way that there shall not, by the default of them or of any of them, be any failure or delay in determining cases or other matters—­under a penalty of two pesos for the poor for each day when the interpreters, men or women, or any of them, shall fail to do their duty in any of the aforesaid matters; and that, in addition, they shall pay the damages, interests, and costs to the party or parties detained for this cause.