142 



conquerors, a very considerable number was des- 

 tined to serve as evidence in litigious causes. 

 The fragment added to the genealogy of the 

 lords of Azcapozalco is an example of this kind. 

 It is a paper of a law-suit respecting the possession 

 of an Indian farm. Under the dynasty of the 

 Azteck kings, the profession of a lawyer was 

 unknown in Mexico. The contending parties 

 appeared in person to plead their cause, either 

 before the judge of the district, called teuctli ; or 

 before the high courts of justice, called tlacatecatl 

 or cihuacohuatl. As the sentence was not imme- 

 diately pronounced after hearing the parties, each 

 of the disputants was interested in leaving with 

 the judges a hieroglyphical painting, to remind 

 them of the principal object of the dispute. 

 When the king presided in the assembly of the 

 judges, which took place every twenty, and in 

 certain cases every fourscore days, these law 

 papers were placed before the monarch. In 

 criminal causes, the picture represented the per- 

 son accused, not only at the moment when the 

 crime was committed, but also in the different 

 circumstances of his life preceding this action. 

 The king, in pronouncing' the sentence of death, 

 made with the point of a dart a scratch across the 

 head of the culprit represented in the picture. 



The use of these paintings in law-suits was 

 continued in the Spanish tribunals long after the 

 conquest. The natives, unable to address the 



