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Attorneys and Judges
An Aztec court in session (below right) (Codex
Mendoza). Four judges with their assistants behind them (wearing
diadems, seated on reed chairs and mats) face six litigants.
____________ Teccalli, or Teccalco: there were the judges and noblemen. Every day the common folk and vassals laid complaints before them. Calmly and prudently they heard the plaints of the vassals; in the picture writing which recorded the case, they studied the complaints. And when they tested their truth, they sought out and inquired of informers and witnesses who could size up the plaintiffs, [who knew] what had been stolen and what was charged. —Florentine Codex, Eighth Book, Fourteenth Chapter ____________
___________ And the ruler, if he knew anything ill of these judges<—perhaps that they needlessly delayed the case of common folk ... [that] they could not pronounce judgment because of either a bribe or kinship—he then seized them and jailed them in wooden cages, exacted the penalty, and slew them, so that the judges might walk in dread. —Florentine Codex, Eighth Book, Fourteenth Chapter ____________
The good magistrate [is] just: a hearer of both sides, an examiner
of both sides, a listener to all factions, a passer of just sentences, a
settler of quarrels, a shower of no favor. He fears no one; he passes just sentences;
he intercedes in quarrels; he shows no bias.
The bad magistrate [is] a shower of favor, a hater of people, an establisher of unjust ordinances, an accepter of bribes, an issuer of corrupt pronouncements, a doer of favors [with partiality]. —Florentine Codex, Tenth Book, Fourth Chapter ____________ The good attorney (51) (right); the bad attorney (52) (Historia de ... Nueva España). ____________ The good attorney ... is discreet, able, astute, diligent, constant, unflagging, sharp-tongued, contentious, wrangling, ingenious, persevering, audacious, unyielding, persistent, dignified, solicitous, careful of things.... He offers rebuttals; he appeals, he pleads. He bows in reverence; he humbles himself. He ensnares; he accuses. He solicits things; he shouts; he is daring, compulsive; he misleads one; he contends, emerging victorious, triumphant; he is aggressive. He collects tribute ... He consumes a tenth of it—he draws recompense. The bad attorney [is] one who takes things from others by fraud. [He is] a persistent beggar, an excessively importunate one; [he is] one who spirits things away by deceit, who travels the road with cunning. He is a hypocrite—lazy, lukewarm, negligent, deceiving, two-faced, inconstant, squandering, dumb, mute. —Florentine Codex, Tenth Book, Ninth Chapter ____________
The palace of Nezahualcoyotl in Texcoco, as shown in the "Mapa
Quinatzin" (bottom right) (Memoires...). In the center are
the chiefs of 14 subject towns. Through tribute, attendance at his
court, and arranged marriages, the ruler exercised close political
control over the local chiefs. In the large room in the upper center sit
Nezahualcoyotl and his son.
One of Nezahualcoyotl's innovations was a Supreme Legal Council of twelve judges, including his close kinsman as presiding judge. Their decisions could be appealed to two higher judges (in the room at upper left), who could pass sentence only with the ruler's approval. Neighboring Aztec states often sent difficult cases to the court of Texcoco, because of the high reputation of its judges and laws.
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