The first reference to the “juiz dos resíduos e provedor das capelas, hospitais, albergarias, gafarias e órfãos” in Madeira Island is from the late 15th century. His functions were the same as his equals located throughout the Portuguese kingdom. The importance of his activity as a guardian of the wills obedience gave him a specific jurisdictional function inside the community life of the emerging insular society. His presence in Madeira’s institutional context remains until 1832, when it was formally extinguished. This essay is divided in two fundamental points. The first one is focused on an analysis of this officer legal framework and his jurisdictional activity since the late 15th century until 1832, demonstrating the legal evolution and having attention to the particularities of the “sistema vincular” and its prevalence until 1863 when it was abolished. Secondly, the focus will be given on the officers who held this institutional position, the reasons why they were chosen and their main activity.   Keywords Madeira; “Resíduos e Capelas”; Legislation; Officers; Activity.

The reform of the “vincular” legislation in 1860, whose application was affected by the law of January 19th, 1861, led to the elaboration of a historical source of the most interest: the “Registo Vincular”, which was written between November 20th, 1862, and April 10th, 1863. This source materialised in three volumes detailed the “vincular” institutions of 15 administrators in Funchal’s administrative district. Taking into account that those “vínculos” were composed by a considerable amount of assets, who were able to generate income for its holders, this source’s content is suitable of providing important knowledge of an economic reality of Madeira’s archipelago, more specifically, the rustic and urban property, that, because of its “vincular” condition, remained outside the trade circuit, and was not able of providing any income for the Portuguese Crown.Our analysis of the “vincular” phenomenon in Madeira at its final stage is composed by three moments. First, the verification of the conditions that originate this source, more specifically, the law’s application regarding this subject, and also the understanding of the reason for the presence of only 15 administrators. Then, we made a comparative analysis on the “vínculos” that have been registered, focusing on the assets, its location, evaluation and annual income. Finally, we proposed an exercise attentive to a possible link between the “Registo Vincular” and the tax reform on direct contributions that the Portuguese Crown wished to implement on Madeira’s archipelago.   Keywords Madeira; “Vínculos”; Registration; Property.

From 1872 onwards, Portuguese islands municipalities acquired the right to collect indirect taxes on imported products at their customs. Within Madeira archipelago, Funchal was the only city which had customs with a continuous commercial activity. According to the municipal customs tax regulation, it was established that Funchal’s customs had, monthly, to deliver to the city council, the amounts collected under this item. The survey and analysis of all accounting records of Funchal’s city council, between 1872 (the beginning of the municipal customs tax collection) and 1910 (end of the constitutional monarchy regime), allow to assess the relevance of this tax in the total of its revenue. Based on this observation, an analysis is proposed in order to understand: 1st these taxes’ legislative framework; 2nd its values, its evolution and representativeness within municipal revenue; 3rd the municipal customs taxes collection internal table structure and its evolution; 4th the relationship between this table and the local economic life. Keywords Funchal; County; Custom Taxes; Legislation.

In 1849, António Correia Herédia published Breves reflexões sobre a abolição dos morgados na Madeira. The following year, he edited a new writing, As contradições vinculares pelo A. das breves reflexões sobre a abolição dos morgados na Madeira, where, due to the raised controversy, he justified and reiterated the previously exposed ideas. The extremely rich content of both essays allows us to analyse and understand the Madeira “vincular” system, it its economic and social features.This essay aims to analyse the main questions raised by António Correia Herédia, understand his fundamental proposals and also perceive the contribution of his ideas to the project of the “vincular” abolition, which was presented by the Baron of São Pedro, and, a few years later, to the parliament debate preceding the promulgation of the law of 19th May, 1863, that announced the complete abolition of all “vínculos”. Keywords António Correia Herédia; “Vínculos”; Abolition; Debate.

By an order from the Ministry of the Kingdom, given on August 1st, 1866, all civil governors, once a year, were ordered to visit the respective administrative districts, with the purpose of reporting about the economic and social situation in which they were found. At the same time, they should pay attention to the problems that were detected. The execution of this ordinance materialized in a collection of very detailed reports about all the districts in the Portuguese kingdom, including the report of Jacinto António Perdigão, the Funchal district civil governor, completed on September 4th, 1867.This source has the particularity of being the result of an inspection carried out in a personal and direct manner, unlike other types of reports that already existed and which were prepared, only, based on the information provided by the administrators of the municipalities. As a privileged observer of Madeira and Porto Santo’s insular reality, governor Jacinto António Perdigão left an important set of information, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, susceptible to an interpretive and problematic analysis.Thus, this essay aims to present a critical reading of this source, revealing an informative construction on the Archipelago of Madeira from the perspective of the civil governor, following an expository line that aims to: 1st understand the legal framework of this report related to the civil governor’s functions; 2nd analyse and characterize the statistical and other data presented; 3rd analyse the problems detected and the solutions proposed by Jacinto António Perdigão. Keywords Madeira Islands; District; Civil Governor; Report.

In 1740, the «ouvidor» from Machico’s captaincy in Madeira Island, named Lourenço Biard, was the purpose of a «residência», that is, an inquiry managed by the regal magistrate who, on behalf of the Portuguese king and under the terms of the royal law, investigated the fulfilment of the «ouvidor», who was the local official responsible for the 2nd instance justice. The result of this diligence proved to be a peculiar historical source with great interest in studding the role of the Machico lord grantee’s ouvidor. Simultaneously, this source allows to comprehend the social panorama from the villages of Santa Cruz and Machico, with their various agents, and to understand how they would have interacted with the official targeted by this regal inquiry.This study is divided into three parts. In the first one, we summarise the Machico captaincy lord grantee’s prerogatives, including the right to appointing the «ouvidor» who, on his behalf, exercised 2nd instance justice. Next, our attention is focused on the Lourenço Biard's appointment as «ouvidor» and lieutenant, approved by Machico captaincy lord grantee between 1730 and 1753; and also, in the «ouvidor» tenuous presence within Machico’s and Santa Cruz's municipal documentation. The «residência» records of 1740 are the main subject of the third, and last, part. Having established the legislative framework for the «residências», it is interesting to understand how this inquiry was carried out. Thus, the analysis of the 94 interviewed witness’s social profile, of the content of their answers and, finally, of the regal magistrate assessment, will allow us to perceive this «residência» as an instrument serving the power balance in the municipalities of Santa Cruz e Machico. Keywords «Ouvidor»; Captaincy; Machico; Inquiry.

This essay aims to analyse the entailment administration of Carvalhal Esmeraldo’s family between 1796, when the organization of the entail processes inherited by Luís doCarvalhal Esmeraldo started; and 1878, the ending of the payment of the pious legacies that remained in debt by the 2nd Count of Carvalhal. The main objectives are: to provide a contribution to the knowledge of Madeira’s entailment phenomena in its late phase; and, likewise, to contribute to the diffusion of an unexplored documentary heritage, valuing the archival work developed by the Madeira Archive and Library. Therefore, the documentary corpus in question consists, essentially, of Carvalhal Esmeraldo’s family entailment processes, without neglecting an articulation with other documental typologies, namely, Notaries Records, the Kingdom Ministry’s fund, this one from the National Archive Torre do Tombo, and the contemporary legislation, which regulates the entailment organization in its later days and the fulfilment of pious legacies even after the extinction of “morgadios” and “capelas”. Given the vastness and poor conservation of the documentation, ten processes were methodologically chosen according to the following criteria: a reasonable conservation; full readability; a complete content, that is, with the document establishing the entail, the accountability process over time in front of competent authorities, as well as the orders and judgments handed down.This essay is divided into two parts. In the first one, a general approach of Carvalhal Esmeraldo’s family entailment administration is made, as a chronology of theentails’ foundation, with its annual charges and associated assets is established, for a characterization of the entails inherited by Luís Vicente do Carvalhal Esmeraldo in 1796. The selected ten entailments processes are the main subject of the second part, which, divided into two themes, comprises of: a comparative analysis of institution documents (such as wills); an analysis of the accountability process under the last three Carvalhal Esmeraldo’s entailment administrators, with an emphasis on the orders and sentences given by the competent authorities. Keywords Madeira Island; Entailment Organization; Carvalhal Esmeraldo Family.

O presente estudo tem por finalidade apresentar uma análise da administração financeira do município do Funchal durante as vigências dos Códigos Administrativos de 1878 e de 1886, compreendendo um arco temporal com início em 1880 e término em 1895. Dividido em três partes, inicia-se com o enquadramento legislativo das finanças municipais, devidamente exposto nos articulados destes dois documentos. De seguida, o enfoque é dado à gestão financeira da câmara, com a apresentação do orçamento e da conta de gerência, instrumentos financeiros dependentes da tutela do governador civil do distrito administrativo do Funchal. Finalmente, numa terceira e última perta, dedicar-nos-emos à receita e à despesa municipais, com o estabelecimento das suas tipologias e análise dos registos contabilísticos produzidos. Palavras-chave Município; Funchal; Gestão Financeira; Tutela do Governo Civil.

This study aims to present the results of a research that, focusing on the Investigation Records of the Administração do Concelho of Ponta do Sol (1837-1861), pursues to identify manifestations of crime and transgression that occurred in this social microcosm and to understand the variety of the people involved, as well as the nature of their actions. Its objectives are defined in a set of questions listed as follows: 1) What crimes and offences occurred; 2) Their typology and predominance; 3) From a socio-professional point of view, who were the complainants and the accused; 4) Which social categories were predominant and why. The analysis of the ten notebooks in which the investigation reports were recorded, by order of the administrador, totalling 460 reports during the present chronology, constitutes the main source of this study. Other documentation was also considered, namely letters, official correspondence and reports from the Civil Government of Funchal and administrative legislation, which was essential to understand the duties of the administrador and his role in policing, according to the political and administrative organisation defined by the Portuguese Government. This study is divided into three parts. The first part examines the role of the administrador and his powers of policing and control over the population under his jurisdiction. The second part consists of a brief socio-economic characterisation of the municipality of Ponta do Sol, providing geographical, demographic and socio-economic evidence based on statistical and reporting data from the 19th century. The analysis on the Investigation Reports of the Administração do Concelho of Ponta do Sol, carried out between 1837 and 1861, is addressed in the third part of this study, where the questions raised will be answered. Finally, the concluding remarks present the conclusions that can be drawn. Keywords: Crime; Ponta do Sol; Administração do Concelho; Police; 19th century.