Citizens before the Law

Chambers, Sarah C.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781139342667.022

Cited by 3 publications

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“…54 Despite the new constitutional arrangements, in most polities, these practices remained largely unchanged, as did the identity of those occupying the bench. 55 Alongside the persistence of most colonial law into the second half of the nineteenth century in both Spanish and Portuguese America (given the slow pace of legal change and codification, discussed in Section 5.2) and the ongoing dependence on wide judicial discretion, this has led historians to conclude that there was extensive continuity in jurisprudence from the late colonial to the early national period. 56 Even though the basic assumptions of colonial legislation were in theory radically different from (and sometimes even incompatible with) the new values that independence and revolution sought to implement, in the absence of new legislation, both judges and litigants continued to uphold the old norms.…”

Section: The Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Independence(s): What Is a Revolutionary Law?

Herzog

2024

The Cambridge History of Latin American Law in Global Perspective

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Portugal was similarly ruled by several governments: the military government first of France and then of Britain, whose troops either invaded or liberated (depending on whom was speaking) the country, a regency, and various juntas. The king in Rio de Janeiro also tried to control the Peninsula by issuing a series of orders to local officials, though his success in doing so was limited.In 1814, as the power of Napoleon was waning, the Spanish king, Fernando, returned to Spain, where he declared the Cádiz Constitution, and all that was enacted by the Cortes of Cádiz, void. A liberal uprising in 1820 forced the king to reinstall the constitution, but in 1823 it was again repealed. Meanwhile, the Portuguese Prince Regent remained in Brazil where, crowned as King João VI in 1815 after the death of his mother, he declared the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil. Under enormous pressure, probably linked to fears that Brazil would colonize Portugal, and after an uprising in Porto in 1820 that protested "the status of a colony to which Portugal in effect is reduced," the regency in Portugal agreed to call a meeting of a constituent Cortes. Threatened by these developments, João VI returned to Portugal in 1821, leaving his heir behind as regent. As he was departing, crowds in Rio de Janeiro forced him to swear allegiance to the Spanish Constitution of Cádiz, which they believed would ensure that the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil would become a constitutional monarchy that would protect equal relations between the Portuguese territories on both sides of the ocean. 7 The Portuguese Cortes, which met from 1820 to 1822, in 1822 adopted a new constitution for the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil. Yet, in response to these developments as well as pressures from locals, the heir to the throne, Dom Pedro, who remained in the Americas, declared Brazilian independence in 1822. He convoked a constituent assembly in 1823 but, ignoring most of its work, proceeded to impose a new constitution on Brazil in 1824. In Portugal, João VI began purging Portuguese liberal legislation of elements that according to him did not conform to the customs and will of the nation and, in 1824, declared the return to the Ancien régime, that is, all which existed before the imperial crisis.These European events greatly affected developments in Latin America. In Spanish territories, while some remained loyal to the captive king despite his deposition in 1808 and refused to adopt any measure that might amount to innovation, others formed local juntas, which, although swearing allegiance

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Section: The Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%