“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

Ribeiro later sought to purchase the land outright through a partnership with Antonio
Jacinto de Oliveira, another prominent landowner in Alegrete. The deal fell through with
the outbreak of the Farrapos War in 1835. Lisboa supported the imperial forces. As a
result, he again lost his land when the rebel government confiscated it. Lisboa alleged that
Prado Lima, taking advantage of his position as Chief of Police and Frontier Commander,
received a new title from the rebel government. Lisboa later perished during the revolution.
It was up to his heirs to reclaim his land following the end of the conflict in 1845. 126
Francisca Lisboa’s account hints at how personal ties and political connections
combined to forge property rights along the unstable border. Although her complaint does
not suggest that Lisboa and José Ribeiro entered into an agreement regarding access to the
land, this is likely what occurred. Given the difficulty of petitioning Rio de Janeiro for a new
title, Lisboa needed to tap into his network of political connections and economic resources
to reach the distant imperial court. These were precisely the resources that José Ribeiro and
his brother Bento Manoel Ribeiro could offer in order to reestablish Lisboa’s claim.
Conversely, José Ribeiro obtained access to land on favorable terms, deepening a useful
alliance in the process.
These ties also likely explain how Lisboa’s widow found herself in court some ten
years later with the Ribeiros’ attorney, Teixeira, by her side. Lisboa’s property rights became
entangled in the sharp factional conflicts swirling around Alegrete’s courthouse throughout
the 1850s. Teixeira aimed to use the proceeding to attack Prado Lima’s personal reputation
and economic assets. The attorney based his legal strategy on Prado Lima’s abuse of power.
126 Ibid. Importantly, Leão and Teixeira could not claim the actions of the Farrapos
government were invalid per se. The 1845 Ponche Verde Treaty ending the riograndense
rebellion had provided rebels with a general amnesty. This included protection for certain
property rights obtained from the Farrapos government during the war. Former rebels
zealously guarded such claims against judicial encroachment.
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