“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

their publication, the private dispute between the two rival landowners spilled over into the
town’s public arena of theatrical and factional justice.
The case proceeded to trial where a jury acquitted Delort of any wrongdoing in the
publication of the letters. Galina and Delort continued to battle each other, however, in the
courts and in the press. One year later, they appeared on opposite sides in another boundary
dispute between Brazilian rancher Adão Carvalho and Eduardo de las Carreras. 115 Carreras
claimed that following the death of Gregorio Lecoq, a prominent Uruguayan landowner in
the region, Carvalho and Galina had attempted to exploit the circumstances by “conducting
a secrete boundary survey.” 116 Pedro Real ordered a new survey conducted by Delort. The
Carvalhos then retained Agustín Sañudo to represent them in the matter. Sañudo provided
legal counsel to a number of prominent colorados and Brazilians in Salto’s tribunals. His
presence underlined the political stakes in the proceeding. However, while the two sides
were assembling their respective allies for another judicial clash, the proceeding inexplicably
ended. It is possible the parties settled their case. It is more likely that the proceeding’s
remaining pages have simply been lost.
The conflicts between Galina and Delort represented a collision of personal
reputation between the two surveyors. They also constituted a broader dispute between
their respective factional patrons over their ability to dispense justice and dictate property
rights. The juicio de imprenta between the two men simultaneously involved questions of not
only which survey possessed legal validity, but also which faction could publicly manifest its
power to control the legal determinations of nebulous property rights. Victory for either the
Tejos’ or Real’s survey claim revealed their ability to obtain justice. Correspondingly, a
115 D. Eduardo de las Carreras c. Angel Galina sobre campos, AGN-SJ. Salto. Letrados Civiles,
No. 14 (1863).
116 Ibid.
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