Californio Justice: Judge Manuel Domínguez

1849 Map showing the Pueblo Los Angeles surrounding by farm and ranch lands.

Life in Los Angeles during the Californio era, and for some time thereafter, was pretty rough and tumble. Like every wild west town, the residents of Los Angeles struggled to maintain law and order. Culture clash was an ongoing problem, of course, as the Spanish padres, Mexican and African-blooded settlers, indigenous peoples, Americanos, and mixed-race families collided in Alta California.

Infighting among the Californios themselves, as they competed for land and resources, took up much of the attention of the alcaldes (mayors) and the ayuntamiento (council) during the first half of the 19th century.

Our man, Manuel Domínguez, inheritor of Rancho San Pedro, took an active role in the public life of the pueblo. He served four times in one-year terms as primero alcalde or segundo alcalde (something like an assistant mayor) beginning in 1832 when he was only 29 years of age. The sketchy records of the time make it difficult to ascertain the specific role played by any one individual. What is clear is that a select group of Dons shared the duties of governing the pueblo among them. Familiar names like Dominguez, Tapia, Carillo, Soto, Alvarado, Cota, and Sepúlveda appear regularly in various official capacities.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Early Los Angeles had a calaboose, a small jail house for rowdies and miscreants, but nothing like an adequate penal system. The nearest presidio was 100 miles away in Santa Barbara. As a result, justice was often dispensed summarily – generally by hanging for serious crimes or by more creative means for minor transgressions and civil cases.

In his various official capacities, Manuel Domínguez was called upon to act as judge in a number of cases. The Los Angeles Municipal Archives provide us with a record of one case where Dominguez did, indeed, have to employ the wisdom of Solomon. In July 1839, a case came before Segundo Alcalde Dominguez involving a piece of lumber taken from a beach. The English translation of the Spanish document reads:

“Morillo [is] suing Sepúlveda for taking a piece of lumber from the beach on the place called La Bolsa, and having commenced to work the same. The case was properly ventilated and after some arguments, a conclusion was arrived at that the piece of lumber in question belonged to both litigants and it was decided to divide the same and each receive a half with the only conditions that Sepulveda deliver the half belonging to Morillo at the door of the latter’s house in compensation for his having done the work of sawing the same.”

Some of the sense of this matter is a bit lost in translation, but we can guess that there may have been more than one piece of lumber at stake; perhaps a matter of boundaries or personal honor was in play. Unlike the baby at the heart of King Solomon’s famous decision, the pile of lumber that Morillo had created from a found log or logs was cut in half.

Domínguez may have had his own interests in mind in splitting his decision. While Justo Morillo was likely a commoner, if a landholder, who signed the decision with an “X,” José Sepúlveda was a prominent Don and one with whom Domínguez maintained an ongoing and litigious feud regarding the boundary between their respective ranchos. It might not do to add fuel to the fire by ruling against him.

There are other interesting things to note about the document. It makes reference to the “good men” who accompanied the litigants: Don Vicente la Osa and Don Ygnacio Coronel. Apparently, it was common for such hombres buenos to act as advisors to both the litigants and to the judge. Their signatures on the document attest to their approval of the decision.

It is also interesting to note that a form of due process was allowed to vecinos like Morillo, although he surely did not have the same standing as the Dons.

Nor was this the only case in which Alcalde Domínguez was forced to think on his feet. Apparently, horse-racing was a big source of both entertainment and litigation in those days. In one case unearthed from the Los Angeles County Archives by Robert Gillingham, author of The Rancho San Pedro, Domínguez settled a disputed horse race by ordering that the race be re-run within 21 days and that a member of the town council act as judge.

Report of Manuel Dominguez in an 1839 lawsuit. Courtesy of University of Southern California Digital Library via Calisphere. Page two of the original Spanish document in this case show the signatures of the principals. Domínguez and Sepúlveda each signed with a flourish. The two “good men” signed below a mark which appears to be “H.b,” for “Hombre bueno.” Señor Morillo could not write and so signed with a lopsided “X” which appears more like a “T.”

A version of this story appeared in The Museum Review, the newsletter of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum.

Sources include:

Robert Cameron Gillingham, Ph.D., The Rancho San Pedro, 1961.

David Samuel Torres-Rouff, Before L.A.: Race, Space, and Municipal Power in Los Angeles, 1781-1894, 2013.