Its value ranged from twenty-five centavos to two pesos for a folio of two sheets according to the amount involved in the suit.

Now there are fixed fees of $8 in civil suits, except in probate matters, where the fee is $12.
It was in the power of an unscrupulous litigant to make a lawsuit almost eternal.

In matters involving an amount exceeding $250 it was lawful to institute proceedings in the action whereby the decision of the main issue was suspended pending decision of the proceedings, and as a decision was appealable to the _audiencia_, this was often done by attorneys who had an interest in delaying the suit.

By instituting one proceeding after another a suit could be indefinitely prolonged.
Another method of securing delay was to object to the judge.

In case the judge denied the ground of the objection, a proceeding was instituted against him and the trial of the main issue was turned over to another judge; although the proceeding arising out of the objection did not suspend the trial of the main issue, when the time came to decide the latter the decision was withheld until the proceeding arising out of the objection was settled, and as this latter was one in connection with which other proceedings could be instituted which might delay the decision and consequently the decision of the main issue, there was no end to the matter.
To-day all this has been stopped by the procedure in court.