A Sindico was a member of the council of judges who also performed the everyday running of the Ayuntamiento, and a Bayle was analogous to a bailiff in the sense of overseeing a bailiwick (regions in the Catalan-speaking world could be described as Baylias, bailiwicks; see the modern term batlle). Though these offices held less power than that of the Governor (of the island),[37] the Sindicos and Bayle of Mahón are known to have forced the Governor to back down on at least one occasion, despite threats of punishment, by showing he was subject to the rule of law and the matter had already been previously dismissed.[38] Amostazen was defined as originating from the Arabic-Spanish term almotacén, equating to "judge of weights and measures" (i.e. an overseer of markets); as well as the officeholder title within the Balearic Islands, Amostazen could also refer to rules by which markets were organised in different towns on the islands.[39]
