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 
Aztech 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 sentenee 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 
