The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 232
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the decision of life or death should not rest with one man. Ses-
sions of the court in the eastern circuit might be fixed for the
second Monday of October, February, and June at San Felipe,
and the second IM~onday of December, April, and August at Nac-
ogdoches. At both places there should be a resident clerk to keep
records, issue processes, etc., and a, sheriff or alguacil to execute
writs and decrees. Fees of all officers should 'be fixed and forms
provided for uniform procedure. Judicial proceedings in Eng-
lish translated into Spanish by an official translator should be
legalized. This, in fact, was essential. Notaries should be cre-
ated, and a digest of laws in force should be, published in book
form, distributed to officials, and sold at a moderate, price to the
people.
Turning then to general administration, Austin urged the ap-
pointment of a sub-political chief (gefe subatterna) at San Felipe,
with authority from the Sabine to the Lavaca, or, better, two sub-
alterns, dividing this territory between them, he should under-
stand English and Spanish and be a medium of communication
between the political chief and the alcaldes.30
The main features of this plan were gradually enacted during
the next eight years, but at the moment nothing was done.
Want of specific laws was from the beginning a. source of em-
barrassment and perplexity to Austin, as it had been to the al-
caldes. He always conformed to Mexican laws and procedure
when he could ascertain what they were, and when lie cold not,
or when they did not seem to apply to the peculiar colonial con-
ditions, "necessity," as he wrote Lucas Alaman, "compelled me
to adopt provisional and temporary regulations."* Some of the
laws which, he early urged upon Bastrop, to meet "pecular colonial
conditions" were a probate law for the setttlement of estates whose
heirs resided in foreign countries; a law concerning the sale, deed-
ing, and conveyancing of land by the colonists; and a law staying
for twelve years the enforced payment of debts contracted by
colonists before coming to Texas.
(4) The Militia.-Two other subjects demanded Austin's
3"Austin to Bastrop, November 3, 1826. Austin Papers, miscellaneous.
*Austin to Ala an, Janary 20, 1824. University of Texa transcripts
from Department of Fomento, Mexico.232
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/238/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.