“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

oader struggles to define political power and sovereign boundaries. Dropping down to the
local level first, however, grounds these struggles in the system of borderlands legalities we
have been exploring throughout this dissertation. Specifically, it frames the importance of
personal reputation and reciprocal ties in establishing the foundation for property rights.
These local underpinnings in turn propelled cross-border factional conflicts forward.
Once again, Mathias Teixeira de Almeida and Joaquim dos Santos Prado Lima were
central figures in various judicial clashes to define property rights in Alegrete. As we have
seen, Prado Lima was deeply embedded into the sinews of local power relationships. He
used his political connections to amass significant land holdings west of Alegrete along the
road to Uruguaiana throughout the 1830s. Prado Lima then turned to his allies in the
judicial system to manifest his property rights publicly. In the process, he augmented his
personal reputation and deepened reciprocal ties with other prominent vizinhos in Alegrete.
Consider Prado Lima’s purchase of a tract of land from Valentin Bueno de Camargo
in 1830. The tract in question formed part of a sesmaria grant from the Portuguese crown in
1814. 117 Upon purchasing the property, Prado Lima immediately confronted a number of
persons occupying portions of the land. They included Joaquim Machado Leão. Prado
Lima brought an ejectment action against Leão in 1833 and then entered into a contract with
Leão to rent the land back to him. Prado Lima’s actions squared with notions of reputation
and reciprocity at the heart of borderlands legalities. As Gabriela Garcia has observed, the
fact that Prado Lima went through a judicial proceeding only to then rent the land back to
Leão indicated that he was not primarily interested (at least initially) in actually occupying the
land in question. Instead, his actions aimed at having his title to the land publicly
117 Joaquim Machado Leão c. Joaquim dos Santos Prado Lima, APRGS. Alegrete. Cartório de
Civil e Crime. Ações Ordinários, Maço 37, No. 869 (1861), 28-29.
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