SENTENCE AND PUNISHMENT. 235 



cumstances, have any jurisdiction whatever 

 over them ; while the lay plaintiff, in the pri- 

 vileged tribunals of these, may, if unsuccessful, 

 have judgment entered up against him : a 

 consequence that can never follow the suits 

 of the ecclesiastical or military orders before 

 the civil tribunals. The judgments of the 

 latter, in such cases, would be void. It is no 

 wonder, then, that the cause of freedom in 

 Mexico has made so little progress. 



Imprisonment is 



ly sort of 



punishment resorted to in the North. For 

 debt, petit larceny, highway robbery, and 

 murder, the usual sentence is " A la carcel" (to 

 jail), where a person is likely to remain about 

 as long for inability to pay dos reales, as for 

 the worst of crimes : always provided he has 

 not the means to pacify the offended majesty 

 of the law. I never heard of but one execu- 

 tion for murder in New Mexico, since the de- 

 claration of independence. The most despe- 

 rate and blood-stained criminals escape with 

 impunity, after a few weeks of incarceration, 

 unless the prosecutor happens to be a person 

 of great influence; in which case, the prisoner 

 is detained in the ccdahozo at will, even when 

 the offence committed has been of a trivial 

 character. Notwithstanding this laxity in the 

 execution of the laws, there are few murders 

 of any kind commited. 



In case of debt, as before remarked, the de- 

 linquent is sent to iail— provided the creditor 



Will 



If he will, how 



ever, the debtor becomes miens volens the 



