Rábulas e Bacharéis na Guerra do Contestado: Direito, polícia e conflito social (1912-1916)

Abstract

The following article aims to analyze the activities of the institutions and individuals linked to the Judiciary and to the police before and during the Contestado War to have occurred in the plateau region of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Running from 1912 to 1916, the war involved large numbers of low-income farmers, squatters, farmhands, and troopers in their struggles against landowners, the government, and the Sao Paulo-Rio Grande Railroad Company. Judicial sources are analyzed as a means of accessing important information on life, politics, and the social and economic relations on the plateau, as are the actions of lawyers, rabulas [paralegals], delegates, prosecutors, and judges throughout the conflict, both in terms of their intermediation in political matters, as well as their role in the criminal proceedings of rebellious leaders. Significant documents from the Judiciary and Registry Offices reveal political ties, family relationships, and cronyism critical to an understanding of the outcome of various proceedings, with particular attention awarded to the rebellious occupation of Vila de Curitibanos.