“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

The Ribeiro faction saw to it that Theodora could vehemently contest Vital’s move.
Angelo Muniz da Silva, Alegrete’s district judge, concluded that Vital had ignored substantial
evidence in rendering his decision. He concluded that Theodora had in fact been born
across the border in Uruguay and therefore was legally free. The Tribunal de Relação in Rio de
Janeiro ultimately heard the case. They affirmed da Silva’s finding and ordered the
municipality to pay the costs of the appeal. 59 The eventual appeal to the high court in Rio de
Janeiro of a case involving the legal status of an Brazilian woman of color again
demonstrates the extent to which factional politics could embed itself in “mundane” judicial
actions. Legal rights were never too far removed from political conflicts. It also reveals the
importance of controlling the courthouse for solidifying factional allegiances. Although
Canabarro’s strength in the town was waxing, the Ribeiros used their control of the district
court to maintain their power over the distribution of private law rights. In this way, they
ensured their position as the ultimate arbiters of personal reputations and reciprocal ties in
the city. They remained necessary parties to the system of borderlands legalities that
governed Alegrete’s political and commercial relationships.
Yet, as the Ribeiros increasingly saw their own political power tied to their control
over Alegrete’s legal offices, they faced a dilemma. On the one hand, they had to draw
closer to the provincial president to sustain their position. Recall that the president
59 It is unclear whether Theodora ultimately benefited from the successful appeal on
her behalf. The appeal concerned allegations of criminal misconduct by the judge and did
not explicitly seek to reverse the findings of the underlying proceeding. It is entirely possible
that her owner simply departed with their legal judgment in tow, unchallenged by local
officials more interested in weakening Oliveira than obtaining justice for Theodora. As we
will see in chapter six, however, such factional disputes often did create spaces for persons in
the lower strata of the borderlands social hierarchy to assert a variety of claims in order to
enhance their own social standing. “Brazilian slaves” proved particularly adept at utilizing
factional politics in this way to support their claims to Uruguayan citizenship and with it
their own freedom.
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