“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

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orderland legalities around vecindad. Traders and other elite borderlands residents on the move for economic and political reasons had to overcome suspicions accorded outsiders by developing a variety of strategies to ensure continued access to the localized justice. They did so by emphasizing elements of personal prestige and reciprocity that were articulated through factional political alliances. By stressing their social position and their connections to other men of honor in a given forum, merchants and landowners in the periphery could retain the flexibility of localized justice and autonomy while restricting its more radical implications. The testimony of honorable vecinos conferred local standing to outsiders – the same social status that facilitated the creation of borderlands trading relationships. The eyewitness testimony of “honorable vecinos” provided the critical evidentiary underpinnings for a number of legal rights, even trumping contrary written evidence on occasion. One example of the role of vecino testimony in general and of the personal character of the vecinos in particular played in supporting legal claims comes from the 1837 land dispute between Petrona Perez and Maria Zabala de Hornos in Concepción del Uruguay. 102 The case boiled down to a disagreement over land boundaries stemming from the probate of Perez’s husband’s estate. Perez claimed that Hornos had illegally surveyed and then occupied a portion of her property. Perez faced two obstacles in pursuing her claim. First, she lacked a definitive legal title to occupy the tract. Second, Hornos possessed a survey from 1826 that supported her rights to the disputed lands. Confronted with this written evidence, however, Perez offered testimony from eight vecinos in the town. She noted: “It is not possible to present information in a character more serious, more legal and more orderly: it is before a competent Judge; it is rooted in the                                                          102 Petrona Perez, viuda de D. Pantaleon Panelo, reclamando de Doña Maria Zabala de Hornos la devolución de una fracción de campo de propiedad de la testamentaria de su esposo que ocupa idebidamente, AGPER. Hacienda. Serie IX, Subserie E, Civiles s/n (1837).   114   
unanimous and respected testimony of honorable vecinos, impartial and long-standing [antiguos] settlers of lands in the area I am claiming.” Perez further stated that the witnesses had appeared “solemnly” before the local alcalde mayor and “two other witnesses of recognized impartiality” to give their statements regarding the land boundaries. She concluded that such powerful testimony trumped all other forms of proof, “meriting complete faith and belief” by the court. 103 Hornos’ attorney, Gilberto Rivero, responded that the written documents should decide the dispute. However, he then spent the bulk of his pleadings focusing on the character of the witnesses. He noted that several of the witnesses were not “vecinos of the town” but Perez’s relatives. He further pointed out that others were of advanced age, incapable of testifying regarding the facts at hand. He concluded: “The witnesses presented by Doña Petrona Perez do know what they are talking about.” 104 What is interesting is that Rivero felt compelled to challenge the testimony at all given the apparently strong documentary evidence in his client’s favor. Moreover, he did so in a manner designed to distance the witnesses from their status as local vecinos with intimate knowledge of the facts in question. His response reflected the potential power of the testimony of honorable vecinos in the borderlands, even in the face of a contradictory written record. The verdict did so as well. The court concluded that the land needed to be resurveyed. This voided Hornos’ documentary proof regarding the legal boundaries of her property. 105 This brief vignette from Entre Ríos again suggests the centrality of vecindad in forging the requisite evidence necessary to establish legal claims. Beyond important issues of legal strategy and factual proof, however, vecino status also offered important practical advantages,                                                          103 Ibid., 55bis. 104 Ibid., 194-194bis. 105 Ibid., 225bis.   115   
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“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDING
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ABSTRACT This dissertation explores
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii ACKN
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like the wandering
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Upon returning to the United States
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INTRODUCTION IN EARLY 1828, A FRENC
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Juan Manuel de Rosas and Facundo Qu
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By moving between stories of law an
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in the continental interior. They d
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the fluid character of borderlands
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and geographic conceptions. Extendi
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local legal norms and practices in
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that has greatly expanded the space
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along rivertine trading corridors.
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strains articulated by men like Art
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Bringing the courts back into the s
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of borderlands leaders to negotiate
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Removing the old colonial order, ho
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the city remained a sparsely popula
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smugglers and other imperial outlaw
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Imperial Collapse and Fragmentation
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ivers, deserts and a few vagrant an
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defend its possessions, peninsular
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They requested that the Junta appoi
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manufactured products for the Andea
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The Paraguayan government proposed
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Montevideo in January of 1811, he i
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Ríos. From there, he continued to
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easoning. 25 They had rejected the
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military headquarters along the ban
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sovereignty rooted in borderlands p
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Artigas’ defeat did not spell the
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economy. By 1822, the powerful merc
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universal laws that would further r
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Pedro abdicated the throne in 1831,
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CHAPTER 2 THE (RE)EMERGENCE OF BORD
Page 73 and 74: operate throughout the borderlands
Page 75 and 76: and staple exports instead of the o
Page 77 and 78: Ríos in particular witnessed a dra
Page 79 and 80: goods as far north as the cities of
Page 81 and 82: simmering struggles. By 1840, local
Page 83 and 84: merchants, traders and landowners.
Page 85 and 86: earning the faction’s colorado ti
Page 87 and 88: Guarch’s deal with Carvalho revea
Page 89 and 90: web of reciprocal relationships tha
Page 91 and 92: the border in Brazil. In this way,
Page 93 and 94: In short, over the course of a deca
Page 95 and 96: that he had employed to first arran
Page 97 and 98: opposite direction from Porto Alegr
Page 99 and 100: Pinto sought to have the property d
Page 101 and 102: dealings with Vázquez and the Carv
Page 103 and 104: Ríos or by ship to Montero’s out
Page 105 and 106: alliances with the blancos to open
Page 107 and 108: connections up and down the river t
Page 109 and 110: With his money now in limbo and his
Page 111 and 112: honorable merchant. His associates
Page 113 and 114: meant more than establishing a docu
Page 115 and 116: Uruguaiana and Salto. 80 Chaves and
Page 117 and 118: complex laws “that they only unde
Page 119 and 120: were considered suspect, particular
Page 121 and 122: status. Public recognition of one
Page 123: They reasoned that “one has to re
Page 127 and 128: powerful figures like Urquiza, depe
Page 129 and 130: CHAPTER 3 SOVEREIGN CONFLICTS THE R
Page 131 and 132: conflicts between peripheral ranche
Page 133 and 134: further agreed to provide payments
Page 135 and 136: Sosa almost immediately responded.
Page 137 and 138: funds, the imperial government took
Page 139 and 140: Throughout the early 1830s, the Uru
Page 141 and 142: Fernandes Braga, the provincial pre
Page 143 and 144: Frustrated by the lack of progress,
Page 145 and 146: cataloguing illegal property confis
Page 147 and 148: also provided prominent local elite
Page 149 and 150: As the 1850s dawned, the persistent
Page 151 and 152: traffic along the Uruguay. Rosas fi
Page 153 and 154: would order, they intend to be resp
Page 155 and 156: economic and political relationship
Page 157 and 158: fed back into broader political dis
Page 159 and 160: advance their visions for a new nat
Page 161 and 162: Estado Oriental and had fought at C
Page 163 and 164: Brazilian officials opened secret n
Page 165 and 166: The 1855 occupation reinvigorated e
Page 167 and 168: end political violence in the inter
Page 169 and 170: important) but also dealt with defi
Page 171 and 172: Ribeiros, Prado Lima possessed land
Page 173 and 174: move to Alegrete were unclear. Duri
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verification of filings in his foru
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“intimate friend and relative.”
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men. They were capable of protectin
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Nolasco and Vianna responded that t
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in 1834. Joaquim dos Santos Prado L
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Vital de Oliveira, securing his ele
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controlled the appointment of distr
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military control. By engaging in th
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faction’s strength. In particular
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mattered greatly to their own power
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the parties and the public, with ea
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matter, he was an outsider. Tristan
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Tristani then attempted to attack h
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litigation in Alegrete, questions o
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throughout the country that his wor
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his wife. He claimed that she “wa
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and the titles of each litigant in
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judgment declaring their rival’s
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CHAPTER 5 POLITICAL POWER AND PROPE
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property of Joaquim dos Santos Prad
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acknowledged by both court and poss
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Paulo, Sá Brito was one of the few
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Teixeira claimed that Prado Lima ha
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the trial court’s judgment. The c
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lands in question in 1833. The cour
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The appearance of testimony by Prad
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of cattle from the da Silva’s lan
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[Lima] contracted with an untrained
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that department, Colonel Diego Lama
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vizinho” in Alegrete’s courts o
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Brigadier Don David Canavarro . . .
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assistance, Garces won her case aga
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Brazil. Berro ended a decade of fre
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coexistence of these provincial and
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Urquiza’s efforts to placate his
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and elites now supported Urquiza’
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province within the national framew
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porteño cavalry at Cepeda and Pav
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The correntino merchants responded
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assembling witnesses (in this case,
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etween himself and Abendaño, howev
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complete the exchange, however, Bic
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side sought to dictate the distribu
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Bica had used commercial and politi
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The incident also revealed how impe
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positioned the Ribeiro faction to g
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Borderlands inhabitants in the earl
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neatly encapsulated the ongoing con
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for Brazilian ranchers. In the best
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anchers operating throughout the bo
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Brazilian slave laws followed them
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familial connections on the Brazili
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defined their respective places in
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supply his troops. 26 By the time o
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Brazilian masters that resulted in
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pursue further rights. They would p
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in the Estado Oriental. At the hear
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was also a personal enemy of Canaba
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part of a broader narrative of conf
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anything, Orientales.” 56 Gomez
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anchers, like that of local Uruguay
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“complete proof of oriental natio
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Uruguayan notaries. These included
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Republic over issues of rivertine t
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his cattle in 1858. 79 Recall also
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of warfare in the borderlands furth
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In effect, he hoped to exchange loy
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guarantee their commercial relation
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governments in Montevideo and Brazi
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nineteen in the provincial militia
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authority to contain the more radic
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captured the city of Corrientes. To
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Urquiza struggled to reorganize his
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attle in March of 1870. 29 By the e
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The national government sent an “
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the reciprocal trading relationship
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splintered into “traditional” a
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country’s ranching elites. In res
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these absurd and unwarranted charge
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protect “the development of those
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police forces to better protect cat
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conspiracies, the steady stream of
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matter was overblown and that repor
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CHAPTER 8 NEGOTIATING NATIONS ALTHO
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Local Legal Practices and National
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pointed link between the “honor
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personal interests, Guarch’s fact
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Guarch first sought to tip the scal
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following the order designated by t
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history in 1877. 24 Salto’s first
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twenty-five peso fine. 29 Leal prom
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serves?” 36 He continued: “Does
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abuses “no doubt flowed from the
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political allegiances. Within the f
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Operating within this relationship,
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By the dawn of the 1880s, national
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ejected this evidence, however, fin
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with his son-in-law Alexander da Cr
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not only to affirm these local find
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olster the positions of important l
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CONCLUSION IN 1887, THE GREAT URUGU
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elationships and secure local court
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economies to the forces of global c
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ARGENTINA ARCHIVES CONSULTED BIBLIO
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PUBLISHED PRIMARY AND SECONDARY MAT
Page 385 and 386:
Cárcano, Ramón J. Guerra del Para
Page 387 and 388:
Flores, Mariana Flores da Cunha Tho
Page 389 and 390:
Lasso, Marixa. Myths of Harmony: Ra
Page 391 and 392:
Piccolo, Helga I. L. "A Política R
Page 393 and 394:
Schultz, Kirsten. Tropical Versaill
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