Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Much has been said on the role of judges, legal officials, and courts in the making of colonial regimes. Nevertheless, historiography lacks specific methodological reflections on lawsuits in the Iberian Empires. In order to raise some methodological issues concerning lawsuits as primary sources, I argue that historians could also engage with legal files by looking at instead of just looking through them. In this sense, I seek to establish a dialogue with discussions that anthropologists and social scientists put forward concerning the role of documents as constitutive of bureaucracies and administrative institutions. In order to do so, I will focus on specific aspects of the Benguela District Court collection of legal files.

This book examines the social construction of legal relations between people and things in Brazil during the 19th century through the analysis of court cases discussing dominion and possession over slaves and land. The chapters address topics such as the role of social recognition in situations of possession, the process of delegitimizing acts of land usage from indigenous peoples, dependent persons and women, and the widespread illegal acquisition of slaves and land

This book examines the social construction of legal relations between people and things in Brazil during the 19th century through the analysis of court cases discussing dominion and possession over slaves and land. The chapters address topics such as the role of social recognition in situations of possession, the process of delegitimizing acts of land usage from indigenous peoples, dependent persons and women, and the widespread illegal acquisition of slaves and land.

This article examines the arguments used in an 1835 court case filed before the Court of Appeals of Rio de Janeiro. This analysis highlights t hat: a) the considerable number of African slaves and the existence of a shared culture in the South Atlantic had a strong impact on freedmen's and freedwomen's experiences of freedom; b) masters resisted freedpersons demands for rights and tried to sust ai n dependency relations; and c) in a context of precariousness of freedom, it was paramount to be recognized by the community as a free person and access to land played a central role in this recognition