The Justice of the Peace of the city of Buenos Aires in the middle of the 1830’s. An analysis based on the verbal trials and conciliations in the Cuaderno de Demandas (Book of Lawsuits) of the Justice of the Peace San Telmo

Abstract

This article analyzes the Justice of the Peace of the city of Buenos Aires through the study of the verbal trials and conciliations carried out in 1836 by the Justice of the Peace of San Telmo. To do so, it explores a document that is exceptional because of its conservation and content: the Cuaderno de Demandas (Book of Lawsuits) of the aforementioned Justice of the Peace, a unique type of source for the justice of the peace of the city. From the perspective of the social history of justice, the study centers on four points of analysis. It explores basic aspects of the administration of the Justice of the Peace of the city of Buenos Aires, it details the background of the verbal trial and the conciliation, the role of the archives in the conservation of documents on the forms of verbal and face-to-face justice and, finally, it concentrates on the Cuaderno de Demandas. The question that guides our research asks what the prism of the Justice of the Peace of the city of Buenos Aires can tell us about the history of the forms of judging. In that sense, the source allows us to answer key questions regarding access to lower levels of justice during the period of Rosas: who approached the Justice of the Peace to demand justice?, what motivated the lawsuits?, what amounts were involved?, how were the conflicts resolved?, and finally, how accessible and effective was the Justice of the Peace of the city of Buenos Aires?