O espaço colonial brasileiro entre a imposição da norma régia e a aplicação do direito local: uma análise a partir das eleições de oficiais das câmaras municipais

Abstract

This study addresses the relationship betweenthe imposition of the Portuguese royal rule (ius regnum) and the application of a local law (ius proprium) to it contrary, with a cut in the period of colonial Brazil.It aims to investigate, mainly, how and to what extent the electoral procedure established by the central power was observed in the municipal councils located in the colony, considering the social environment of the villages. Usingbibliographic research, it presents the historical-legal context in which the theme is inserted, analyzing the distinctive features of the Ancien Régimelaw, the institutional factors of colonization and the local administrative structure. Usinglegislative and bibliographical analysis, it listsand comments the relevant laws on the subject, such as the Ordenações Filipinas, the Alvará of November 12, 1611, and the Regimento of May 10, 1640. The empirical research consisted in searching on more one hundred volumes that compose the series Documentos Históricos, published by Biblioteca Nacional, for writings related to the the meof the elections of officers of the municipal councils. It presents and analyzes the concrete cases collected, examining, predominantly, ordersissued by the governors-general through letters and provisions. It concludes that various efforts were made by the metropolis to observancethe electoral process in the councils, but the transgressions were reiterated and most probably stimulated by the primacy of the specialty criterion in the logic of common law, by the isolationism of the villages, bythe autonomy enjoyed by the municipalities and for being the election a means of occupying offices of power within the municipal structure.