“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

the trial court’s judgment. The considerable expenses required to bring the case all the way
to the high court reflected how serious Teixeira and the Ribeiro faction were in depriving a
powerful enemy of his economic resources. However, Prado Lima continued to possess
sufficient political and social connections to ward off their claims. Nevertheless, he and his
political allies were now on the defensive.
The breakthrough against Prado Lima came in 1860 with the temporary dismissal of
David Canabarro from his military command. With Canabarro’s ability to influence events
reduced, the stage was set for Teixeira to again challenge Prado Lima’s property claims in a
new proceeding in 1861. 132 In this second case, Teixeira brought a suit against Prado Lima
on behalf of Joaquim Leão. Leão’s complaint alleged that he had originally purchased lands
now occupied by Prado Lima from Antonio Ferreira da Cunha in 1833. Leão (through
Teixeira) claimed that he had owned and occupied the land without incident until 1838. He
testified, however, that “during this Province’s revolution he was violently dispossessed [of
his property] by means of armed force, his land and cattle seized by Joaquim dos Santos
Prado Lima, then Chief of Police in the revolutionary government.” 133 Faced with threats of
violence and having already lost 3,000 head of cattle, Leão left the area. Echoing Lisboa’s
earlier claims, Leão argued that it was only now, nearly twenty-five years after Prado Lima
originally ejected him from his land, that he could seek restitution for his losses.
Prado Lima offered a dramatically different interpretation of events in his response.
He alleged that Ferreira had taken advantage of the turmoil caused by José Artigas’ invasions
in 1815 to occupy the lands in question illegally. Although military authorities had ordered
Ferreira off the property on several occasions, Ferreira had again exploited the disorder
132 Joaquim Marchado Leão c. Joaquim Dos Santos Prado Lima.
133 Ibid., 2.
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