Alcalde ordinario

Alcalde ordinario refers to the judicial and administrative officials in the cabildos in the Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas during the times of the Spanish Empire in the 16th through 19th centuries. Always existing in pairs, they were called Alcalde de primer voto (roughly, "first mayor") and Alcalde de segundo voto (roughly, "second mayor"). The alcalde ordinario was a judicial magistrate who, with some exceptions, was responsible for the administration of civil and criminal justice within their municipal jurisdiction.[1]

  1. ^ Aida R. Caro de Delgado. El Cabildo o Regimen Municipal Puertorriqueño en el Siglo XVIII Tomo I, "Organización y Funcionamiento." Municipio de San Juan and Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, editors. 1965. p. 85.