Demands, rights and understandings of "Justice": a case study of the slave society of the Empire of Brazil

Authors

  • Luiz Alberto Couceiro Universidade Federal do Maranhão

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2015.108580

Keywords:

Slave Labor and Justice, Crime, Law and Moral Control, Anthropology of Slavery

Abstract

In this text I analyze a case occurred in 1872 and that gave birth to a criminal process, in which slaves of the Monte Verde farm, São Fidélis (Rio de Janeiro), killed and dismembered the slaves’ foreman Tertuliano Guerra. I argue that the slaves were aware that taking the matter to “Justice”, indulging after committing a murder, would be a way of embarrassing their masters and having their demands met. I use analytical strategies such as interpretation of other types of situations in which slaves eventually became aware that using the justice was an interesting way to assert their rights inscribed in laws, and not only the customary ones

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Published

2015-12-22

Issue

Vol. 58 No. 2 (2015)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Couceiro, L. A. (2015). Demands, rights and understandings of "Justice": a case study of the slave society of the Empire of Brazil. Revista De Antropologia, 58(2), 390-422. https://doi.org/10.11606/2179-0892.ra.2015.108580