AÇÕES DE ALMA: the power of words in Pitangui(1720 – 1799)
credit, colonial economy, Pitangui
The present work aims to discuss through civil actions promoted within the scope of Chamber 1 of the 18th century town of Pitangui, the Actions of Alma or Juramento d’Alma, which were summary proceedings filed for the resolution of conflicts financial relationships between creditors and debtors. These modalities were distinguished by the absence or scarcity of currency as a circulating medium in commercial operations. 2 to solve economic and commercial obstacles, residents of different social strata village, sought in their daily lives legal strategies to obtain credit, which were based on the trust of the pledged word, which could only be oral or in tickets, as a kind of consumer finance currency. the credit was considered a form of reciprocity and, therefore, it was necessary to make agreements, whose clash in the lack of commitment to pay debts, resorted to the Actions of Alma in order to affirm the power of the word pledged during the negotiations between both parts.