This article analyzes how the legal category of possession acquired specific meanings in nineteenth-century Brazil. I analyze 27 lawsuits that were filled before the Court of Appeals of Rio de Janeiro, between 1835 and 1889. In the first section, I present the case of "Fazenda Patrimônio", which narratively conducts the article. Then, I analyze the circulation of normativities in the Lusophone Atlantic and I show how ownership was the central legal category in land conflicts that reached the

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... rts of the Brazilian Empire. Finally, I describe the legal category "agregados" and discuss how interpretations given to this institute by Brazilian jurists excluded the possibility that certain social groups had their rights over a piece of land recognized and protected.