The crime of high treason lese-majesty (primeira cabeça) in conjuração baiana (bahia’s conspiracy) of 1798: continuity in legal modernity

Abstract

From the analysis of the information contained in the Records of the Devassas da Conjuração Baiana (judicial proceeding filed by the Portuguese crown) of 1798, in the punitive logic of local power and metropolitan authorities, it is clear that the circumscription of the social bases of the event resulted from a social cleavage intended to maintain the order in Portugal and overseas at the end of the 18th century. On the one hand, four free men, poor and pardos, were exemplarily punished, reinforcing the strength and intrinsic superiority of Portuguese absolutism when questioned. On the other hand, to continue governing, the Portuguese crown needed to negotiate with broad sectors of that society, recognizing the legitimacy of the political exercise and the struggle for the rights of those men. However, the transition from legal pluralism to legal modernity in the Portuguese Ancien Régime was only possible because the hierarchy inherent to slavery was not questioned.