Civil cases involving slaves and freedmen in the city of São Paulo, 1722-1797

Abstract

The present project aims to organize and analyze civil suits in the city of São Paulo, between 1722 and 1797, involving slaves and freedmen both as defendants and as applicant of lawsuits.The spatial cut around the city is based on the fact that it was the administrative and commercial headquarters of the region. In the XVIII century, the São Paulo captaincy was marked by profound changes in population growth, marked mainly by the intensive influx of African slaves, especially in the second half of the century, with the expansion of sugarcane plantations in the wake of the economic dynamism in the Society of São Paulo. The period is also marked by the Densification of the judicial network in the colony. In view of this, it is intended to show how civil suits with daily practices can serve as privileged instruments for understanding ordinary judicial functioning and legal culture, as well as for understanding the social incorporation of slaves and freedmen throughout the XVIII century , reflecting on the forms of resistance and conflictual accommodation. The chronological limitation of this investigation began from the first and last civil case found. (AU)