The “Registo Vincular” of Funchal’s Administrative District (1862-1863): An Analysis of “Vincular” Institution in its Final Stage

Abstract

The reform of the “vincular” legislation in 1860, whose application was affected by the law of January 19^th, 1861, led to the elaboration of a historical source of the most interest: the “Registo Vincular”, which was written between November 20^th, 1862, and April 10^th, 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.