- This study centers on the Tribunal of the Acordada, the most important law enforcement agency in eighteenth-century Mexico. It attempts to demonstrate functional law at the enforcement level as well as to indicate the direction or evolution of law in New Spain. The tribunal represented an important stage in the development of the judiciary as well as of the state toward the modern ideal of a separation of political and judicial authority. Its creation was the logical outgrowth of the colonial experience. Freed of direct political functions, the acordada concentrated on law enforcement. No other viceregal organization received such specialized powers. Relieved of normal judicial subordination to the sala del crimen, the tribunal imposed and executed sentences. It placed centralized police authority in the hands of the viceroy who alone exercised direct control over the organization's judge and its agents. The acordada operated as a reserve system dealing with those crimes that could ot be effectively dealt with by local off als in the traditional ad hoc manner. Unlike other judicial agencies, however, the acordada did not engage in passive law enforcement. The tribunal, not dependent on local officials to formally refer cases, actively sought out malefactor and brought them to justice. Because the majority of the agents served without com pensation, the type of criminal activity they were willing to devote their time and energy to suppress was obviously affected. As local landholders and merchants, they had an understandable interest in control ling crimes involving property rather than purely social crimes. The interests of the state and such individuals coincided. Banditry, robbery, and theft all undermined the authority and prestige of the viceregal government, hindered economic activity with subsequent ill effects on the treasury, and disturbed society in general. With the investment of relatively insignificant state funds, the viceregal government demon strated its ability to confine criminal activity throughout New Spain to an acceptable level.