“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

acknowledged by both court and possessor. The goal was to buttress the connection
between Prado Lima’s desired property rights and the legal allocation of land titles. 118 In the
process, he could further enhance his reputation as a man connected to the law. This served
to augment his personal status in the town. It also established a reciprocal relationship with
Leão that Prado Lima could potentially access in subsequent proceedings that might require
testimony from local witnesses. In short, he again drew upon the local practices that
collectively constituted borderlands legalities to forge his property rights in Alegrete.
Following the conclusion of the contract, however, Prado Lima and Leão again came
into conflict. As a result, Prado Lima brought a second judicial action against Leão in 1836.
Having failed to forge a contractual relationship, he now called upon his local connections to
push Leão from the property altogether. In particular, Prado Lima appeared before
Francisco de Sá Brito Junior, Alegrete’s juiz de direito, to pursue his claims. Sá Brito and
Prado Lima were old political allies. In 1834, Prado Lima joined with several other members
of the town council to support Sá Brito in his dispute with Agostinho José Lourenço over
possession of Alegrete’s district judgeship. 119 Occurring on the eve of the Farrapos
Rebellion, the conflict pitted local elites like Prado Lima against the provincial president.
Lourenço claimed that he possessed the authority from the provincial executive to assume
the judicial post in the town. Prado Lima and the rest of Alegrete’s town council vehemently
opposed the move. In March of 1834, the council drafted a letter to the provincial president
stating:
“[We] could not remain silent in the face of such a change, and it is with the
patriotic zeal of your fellow citizens of this Province in maintaining our
institutions, with due respect to the social pact between Brazilians, that we
118 Garcia, "O Domínio da Terra".
119 AHRGS. Câmara de Alegrete: Correspondência Expedida, Sobre conflicto de jurisdições
suscitada entre os B. Sá Brito Junior e Agostinho José Lourenço (March 20, 1834).
205