When this had been decided in that way, the king ruled on another dispute that existed among many people of the kingdom in the towns that had declared loyalty to the King of Castile, primarily in the town of Santarém, where he and his officials and household had resided longer than in any other town. The question was whether the lawsuits and the verdicts subsequently issued by the magistrates, both those that had already been carried out and those that had not yet been, were still in effect and should be valid as the laws intend and grant. There was a similar doubt regarding any written documents issued by the notaries of these towns.

Those to whom such verdicts had given favour and advantage, speaking of this, said that those verdicts and written documents should be valid and were good, since they had been issued by Portuguese, learned men, who had been officials of King Fernando, even though the King of Castile had called himself king of those kingdoms, and those towns were under his control, along with other arguments of the sort. Others, to whom that property had belonged, both moveable goods and land, and to whose disadvantage those verdicts and written documents had been issued and composed, said that they wished to oppose them and make them null and void, inasmuch as the said King of Castile did not, and could not, have any authority in the kingdoms of Portugal, even if he had taken control of a few towns. Regarding this debate and doubt they wrote to the king, asking what procedure he ordered to be followed in the matter.

Having sought advice about this, he wrote to these town communities as follows: