Issued under King José I and printed in Lisbon at the Officina de Miguel Rodrigues
The text (see English translation below) concerns a legal case from the Relação da Cidade da Bahia (Salvador, Brazil), in which a woman claimed her freedom from slavery. The King, consulting the Conselho Ultramarino, decides that sentences in favour of a person’s liberty are different from ordinary property disputes over the monetary value of an enslaved person. Because liberty “does not admit valuation,” appeals (appellação / agravo) from sentences declaring someone free should only be admitted after special review, and sentences granting freedom should generally stand.
Bifolium (4 pp), Portuguese in early 18th-century orthography. Ornamental initial “E” on first page, large “REY” on inner page, and colophon dated Lisboa, 16 de Janeiro de 1759. Final page lists the officials who registered and published the law: Alexandre Metello de Sousa e Menezes, Rafael Pires Pardinho, Joaquim Miguel Lopes de Lavre, Manoel Gomes de Carvalho, D. Sebastião Maldonado, Rodrigo Xavier Alvares de Moura, Pedro Joseph Correa. Imprint: Reimpressão na Officina de Miguel Rodrigues.
Condition: Very good, virtually unmarked, light wear to gutter, hint of toning to edges. 20 x 28 cm.
Translation
First page (opening of the law)
I THE KING. I make it known to all who shall see this Royal Decree of Law, that, a consultation having been laid before me in the Overseas Council concerning the doubt that has many times arisen about whether one ought to admit an appeal or complaint from a sentence that judges some person to be free, whose liberty has been in dispute; and because, although such liberty cannot be given a value, nevertheless a case for appeal can be admitted when from the sentence there follows solely the loss of the value of the slave, of which the one who claimed to be his lord is deprived; yet since the cause here concerns liberty, which by its nature does not admit valuation so that in every case the sentence may be appealable, according to many opinions of learned authorities that gave rise to the ruling that was taken in the High Court (Casa da Suplicação), that one may appeal or complain whether the sentence is given against liberty or in its favour; nevertheless, in spite of that ruling, the Court of the City of Bahia judged that a certain case fell within its own jurisdiction, in which a woman who claimed to be free was sentenced as free.
And considering the favour that liberty deserves, I have been pleased, in resolution of the said consultation, to conform myself to the opinion which that Court of Bahia followed in the case in question, and that by this opinion sentences shall hereafter be given in all similar cases, notwithstanding the ruling and opinions that are to the contrary. And I hereby will and order that from now on, whenever a sentence is given in favour of the liberty of any person, the cause shall be examined in order to determine whether an appeal or complaint that may be lodged is to be admitted or not, according to the jurisdiction of whoever pronounced the sentence.
Therefore I command the Presiding Judge of the High Court (Casa da Suplicação), the Governor of the Court and House of Porto, the Viceroy of the State of Brazil, the Governor and Captain General of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, the judges of the Courts of Appeal of the Kingdom and of the Conquests, and all the magistrates, stewards, auditors, judges and officers of justice of my realms and lordships, that they observe and keep this my Royal Decree of Law, and cause it to be observed and kept. And to Doctor Manoel Gomes de Carvalho, of my Council and High Chancellor of these realms, I order that he cause it to be published in the Chancellery; and that copies of it be sent to the courts, ministers and persons who must execute it; and that it be registered in the books of the Overseas Council, in those of the Court of the Palace (Desembargo do Paço), in those of the High Court, in those of the Courts of Appeal of Porto, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and in the other places where such instruments are usually registered; and that this very original be placed in the Torre do Tombo [the royal archive].
Given in Lisbon on the sixteenth day of January of the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine.
Inside left page (summary paragraph under “REY.”)
THE KING.
Royal Decree of Law, by which Your Majesty, conforming yourself to the opinion followed by the Court of the City of Bahia, in judging that a certain cause belonged to its jurisdiction, in which a woman who claimed to be free was judged to be free, is pleased that by this opinion sentences shall be given in all similar cases, notwithstanding the ruling of the High Court and the opinions that are to the contrary; and it is your will that from now on, whenever some sentence is given in favour of the liberty of any person, the cause shall be examined in order to decide whether an appeal or complaint that may be interposed is to be admitted or not, according to the jurisdiction of whoever pronounced the sentence, as is declared in it.
References: Portugal, Brazil, Bahia, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, slavery, enslaved woman, manumission, freedom, liberty, Alvará de Lei, José I, Conselho Ultramarino, colonial law, 18th century, Seven Years’ War era, Atlantic world, legal history, printed broadside, rare pamphlet.