AYUNTAMIENTO  , the

Spanish name for the district over which a town council has administrative authority; it is used also for a town council, and for the town-hall . The word is de-rived from the Latin adjungere, and originally meant " meeting." In some parts of Spain and in Spanish America the town council was called the cabildo or chapter, from the Latin capitulum . The ayuntamiento consisted of the official members, and of regidores or regulators, who were chosen in varying proportions from the " hidalgos " or nobles (hijos de algo, sons of somebody) and the " pecheros," or commoners, who paid the pecho, or personal tax; pecho (Lat. pectus) is in Spanish the breast, and then by extension the person . The regidores of the ayuntamientos, or lay cabildos, were checked by the royal judge or corregidor, who was in fact the permanent chairman or president . The distinction between hidalgo and pechero has been abolished in modern Spain, but the powers and the constitution of ayuntamientos have been subject to many modifications .