Cases tried by the various courts and autonomous tribunals of New Spain might or might not result in expulsion for foreigners caught up in the proceedings. An example of this varied treatment shows up in investigations relating to marriage. From the time of Charles V, Spanish law had encouraged residents in America to marry. The original intention of this legislation had been to secure permanence of settlement in the Indies and to promote the social stability of the new colonies. As communities developed, the settlers themselves undoubtedly adopted this royal concern with marriage, and for their own reasons. Churchmen, married women, and fathers of daughters, to name but a few, could all be expected to lend full support to the institution. Such persons might also aid the authorities in encouraging single men to marry. In addition, religion sanctified marriage in the Catholic world and demanded that it remain, without exception, permanent.

Royal legislation aimed not only at encouraging single men to marry, but also at keeping married men from immigrating without their wives. Yet a number of such men, foreigners among them, went to New Spain in the eighteenth century. Being in the Spanish New World while a wife remained in Europe was scarcely a very serious crime. And if the man had any sort of legitimate reason for having come without his wife, it was highly unlikely that the authorities would harass him.