“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
Amaral directly challenged Teixeira’s personal reputation. The fact that Teixeira would ignore allegations of sexual assault for strictly political ends called into question his status as an “honorable vecino” in Alegrete. Once again, personal reputation emerged as a central front in factional struggles over borderlands legalities. Amaral juxtaposed Teixeira’s dishonor with another familiar theme: the image of the neutral application of the law under assault for political ends and personal ambition. Although this obviously was a convenient stance for Amaral to take, both his and Teixeira’s repeated insistence on the “legality” of their actions reflected the rhetorical strategies borderlands factions employed to win control of the courthouse. Because each side ultimately hoped to gain power to secure the recognition of status and rights within the system of borderlands legalities, both factional rivals necessarily framed their conflicts in juridical terms. This in turn fed back into their own personal reputations, enhancing their authority to provide justice for their allies. With da Silva in place, the resolution of the proceeding was largely an afterthought. Da Silva continued to take evidence in the matter. Each side called multiple witnesses representing a cross-section of the town’s vizinhos. After numerous delays and jurisdictional squabbles, da Silva exonerated Amaral. Yet, the acquittal was a Pyrrhic victory. Teixeira and Ferreira had successfully driven the former judge from the town. They had also shown Amaral’s political patron and father-in-law to be powerless to stop their assault on one his faction’s principal judicial officials. At the same time, Teixeira had secured the appointment of da Silva, his relative and ally, to the highest judicial post in Alegrete’s comarca. Viewed from this perspective, Amaral’s ultimate exoneration only further fed into Teixeira’s persistent narrative that his faction, and their judicial allies, administered justice in an impartial manner. It bolstered their own personal reputations as both powerful, but also just 168
men. They were capable of protecting reciprocal legal relationships throughout their borderlands comarca and worthy of the status of honorable vizinhos. The factional struggles in Alegrete around the 1852 elections quickly radiated outwards through the Brazilian borderlands. As the Ribeiros used their control over Alegrete’s courthouse to project their influence throughout the comarca, their success produced new tensions with other, powerful members of the borderlands elite. In these struggles, David Canabarro, the region’s frontier military commander, emerged as the Ribeiros’ principal rival. Over the course of the 1850s and early 1860s, the collision between these competing factions exacerbated tensions not only over control of local resources, but also over the role of the central government in the borderlands. In this way, local legal politics helped to shape the broader political debates concerning the relationship between the imperial state and its periphery, as well as heightening tensions over political conflicts beyond its southern borders. Having seen his faction defeated in Alegrete, Amaral turned to the courts in the nearby city of Uruguaiana. There, both he and Prado Lima were close allies with Zeferino Nolasco and his brother Analeto, as well as another municipal judge, Manoel Marques Vianna. Amaral brought charges against Freitas Valle for defamation resulting from the allegations against him for judicial misconduct. Perhaps sensing that Uruguaiana was a much more hostile forum than the Alegrete courts, Freitas Valle immediately challenged the Uruguaiana tribunal’s jurisdiction over the matter. The Uruguaiana court promptly rejected Freitas Valle’s claim, demanding that he appear to answer the charges. However, having triumphed on the jurisdictional question, Amaral appeared to drop the matter. 42 42 D. José Vaz Alves de Castro Amaral c. Manoel de Freitas Valle, APRGS. Uruguaiana. Cartório Civil e Crime. Processos Crimes. Maço 60, No. 2339 (1854). 169
- 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
- Page 175 and 176: verification of filings in his foru
- Page 177: “intimate friend and relative.”
- Page 181 and 182: Nolasco and Vianna responded that t
- Page 183 and 184: in 1834. Joaquim dos Santos Prado L
- Page 185 and 186: Vital de Oliveira, securing his ele
- Page 187 and 188: controlled the appointment of distr
- Page 189 and 190: military control. By engaging in th
- Page 191 and 192: faction’s strength. In particular
- Page 193 and 194: mattered greatly to their own power
- Page 195 and 196: the parties and the public, with ea
- Page 197 and 198: matter, he was an outsider. Tristan
- Page 199 and 200: Tristani then attempted to attack h
- Page 201 and 202: litigation in Alegrete, questions o
- Page 203 and 204: throughout the country that his wor
- Page 205 and 206: his wife. He claimed that she “wa
- Page 207 and 208: and the titles of each litigant in
- Page 209 and 210: judgment declaring their rival’s
- Page 211 and 212: CHAPTER 5 POLITICAL POWER AND PROPE
- Page 213 and 214: property of Joaquim dos Santos Prad
- Page 215 and 216: acknowledged by both court and poss
- Page 217 and 218: Paulo, Sá Brito was one of the few
- Page 219 and 220: Teixeira claimed that Prado Lima ha
- Page 221 and 222: the trial court’s judgment. The c
- Page 223 and 224: lands in question in 1833. The cour
- Page 225 and 226: The appearance of testimony by Prad
- Page 227 and 228: of cattle from the da Silva’s lan
men. They were capable of protecting reciprocal legal relationships throughout their<br />
borderlands comarca and worthy of the status of honorable vizinhos.<br />
The factional struggles in Alegrete around the 1852 elections quickly radiated<br />
outwards through the Brazilian borderlands. As the Ribeiros used their control over<br />
Alegrete’s courthouse to project their influence throughout the comarca, their success<br />
produced new tensions with other, powerful members of the borderlands elite. In these<br />
struggles, David Canabarro, the region’s frontier military commander, emerged as the<br />
Ribeiros’ principal rival. Over the course of the 1850s and early 1860s, the collision between<br />
these competing factions exacerbated tensions not only over control of local resources, but<br />
also over the role of the central government in the borderlands. In this way, local legal<br />
politics helped to shape the broader political debates concerning the relationship between<br />
the imperial state and its periphery, as well as heightening tensions over political conflicts<br />
beyond its southern borders.<br />
Having seen his faction defeated in Alegrete, Amaral turned to the courts in the<br />
nearby city of Uruguaiana. There, both he and Prado Lima were close allies with Zeferino<br />
Nolasco and his brother Analeto, as well as another municipal judge, Manoel Marques<br />
Vianna. Amaral brought charges against Freitas Valle for defamation resulting from the<br />
allegations against him for judicial misconduct. Perhaps sensing that Uruguaiana was a much<br />
more hostile forum than the Alegrete courts, Freitas Valle immediately challenged the<br />
Uruguaiana tribunal’s jurisdiction over the matter. The Uruguaiana court promptly rejected<br />
Freitas Valle’s claim, demanding that he appear to answer the charges. However, having<br />
triumphed on the jurisdictional question, Amaral appeared to drop the matter. 42<br />
<br />
42 D. José Vaz Alves de Castro Amaral c. Manoel de Freitas Valle, APRGS. Uruguaiana.<br />
Cartório Civil e Crime. Processos Crimes. Maço 60, No. 2339 (1854).<br />
169 <br />
Change language