Real Audiencia de Manila was the institution established by King Philip II to administer justice in the Philippines during the Spanish occupation of the archipelago. It served as a trial and appellate court. However, it also exercised executive, advisory, and administrative functions. Among its non-judicial roles in the colonial administration were the power to supervise ecclesiastical affairs, regulatory functions such as fixing of prices at which merchants could sell their commodities, and executive functions like the allotment of lands to the settlers of new pueblos.

The officers of Real Audiencia de Manila included the incumbent governor general as the presidente (presiding officer), four oidores (equivalent to associate justices), an asesor (legal adviser), and an alguacil mayor (chief constable).

Source: Supreme Court