[The new model of the Royal Protomedicato Tribunal in Spanish America: transformations in response to the Leyes de Indias and the subsequent legislative body].

In this article we examine the modifications in the American Protomedicato, instituted in 1570, that were brought about by the Leyes de Indias and other provisions. The changes produced an institution that was analogous but not identical to the Castilian Protomedicato. Three features central to the American institution were its greater centralization of professional control as a result of the fusion of the posts of the Protomedicato and the Chair of Prima, the early loss of its "supreme court-like" character as a result of admitting appeals brought before judicial and political powers, and its territorial diversification, which led to a profusion of subdelegated Tribunals that eventually attained autonomy or independence in most capitals. The efficacy of these submodels can be assessed only after further detailed study.