Both deposit and emancipation were, however, denied. In response to the petition, the Judge of Orphans rejected all that was requested, alleging that, in spite of everything, a liberated African needed to fulfil the period of 14 years of service. Nonetheless, Jose Gomes da Silva and Miquelina did not give up. They decided to use the legal system in every way possible, initiating a legal process in which we get glimpses of Miquelina's perceptions of freedom and of what it meant to be a liberated African, in relation to how she was to be treated and how this treatment, when not suitable, allowed her to demand emancipation.  
The letter of the law was in her favour since liberated Africans were not supposed to be treated as slaves. But, as Sidney Chalhoub points out, Brazilian society was shaped in such a way that black people's experience of freedom during the nineteenth century was conditioned by the strength of slavery (Chalhoub, 2012, p. 233). Miquelina was being treated as a slave even though, since she was a liberated African, the legal system and society were supposed to corroborate her status as that of a person who was not to remain in a position of exploitation and servitude.