The Rio Branco law (), also known as the Law of Free Birth (), named after its champion, Prime Minister

José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco José Maria da Silva Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco (16 March 1819 – 1 November 1880), was a Brazilian politician, monarchist, diplomat, teacher and journalist. Rio Branco was born in Salvador, in what was then the Captaincy of Bahi ...

, was passed by the Brazilian Parliament on September 28 in 1871. It was intended to provide freedom to all newborn children of slaves, and slaves of the state or crown. Slaveholders of the children's parents were to provide care for the children until the age of 21, or turn them over to the state in return for monetary compensation. Lei do Ventre Livre

The law was the beginning of an abolition movement in Brazil, but it turned out to be more of a legal

loophole A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system. Originally, the word meant an arrowslit, a narrow ver ...

than a radical measure. Only a few people were freed under the law, while more than one million people continued to be held as slaves. This law had more of an influence in the northern part of the country, which was leaning toward

wage A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', '' prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remune ...

rather than slave labor. Many of those freed under the Rio Branco law migrated to the north to work for wages on the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s. The Rio Branco law was the first step toward abolition of

slavery in Brazil Slavery in Brazil began long before the first Portuguese settlement was established in 1516, with members of one tribe enslaving captured members of another. Later, colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases ...

. It was ultimately abolished on May 13, 1888, with the adoption of the .

References

1871 in law Legal history of Brazil 1871 in Brazil Slavery in Brazil Abolitionism in Brazil Slavery legislation {{Brazil-hist-stub pt:Abolicionismo no Brasil#Lei do Ventre Livre

See also

References