“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

eputation at the heart of borderlands legalities drove the escalating electoral conflicts
between the Liga and Contra-Liga throughout the 1850s forward. 17
Local elites struggled to ensure factional success at the provincial and national levels
in order to gain access to webs of patronage flowing down from the government. Juizes de
direito [district judges] were of particular importance. The provincial president in Porto
Alegre ostensibly controlled all aspects of the judicial appointment process. This reflected
his power as the imperial government’s chosen representative to place the law-trained,
bureaucratic elite into important positions of local government. 18 In practice, however,
district judges in the Brazilian borderlands almost invariably possessed substantial local
connections prior to their arrival. Once in place, district judges stood at the juridical
pinnacle of borderlands comarcas – or judicial districts. They possessed appellate jurisdiction
over both juizes municipales [municipal judges] and juizes de paz, as well as original jurisdiction
over substantial civil and criminal matters. 19
As a result, the arrival of a new judge represented an important moment in which
factions could shape the apportionment of justice in their favor, offering their factional allies
recognition of their legal rights in exchange for continued loyalty. Controlling the local
administration of justice reflected the underpinnings of borderlands legalities. Traders and
landowners depended heavily on their ability to mobilize witnesses to provide testimony in
favor of particular legal outcomes. They turned to local webs of connections to secure the
broader relationships upon which their respective trading chains depended. Local legal
conflicts involved not only disputes over pecuniary issues (though these were clearly
17 Graham, Patronage and Politics, Flory, Judge and Jury.
18 Carneiro, A Identidade Inacabada, 141-45.
19 For a cursory overview of the Brazilian judicial system, see Amyr Borges Fortes,
História Administrativa, Judiciária e Eclesiástica do Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre: Editôra
Globo, 1963).
158