# Deposit, emancipation and the right to freedom  
While the Charter of 1818 stated that liberated Africans were to serve 14 years before acquiring final emancipation, Miquelina had only been under guardianship for nine years when she filed her emancipation request in 1844. However, that same Charter stated that liberated Africans could not be treated as slaves. In addition, article 10 of the Charter of 1832 stated that a liberated African whose physical being or right to freedom was threatened by another person could request placement 'in deposit', which meant that he or she could be taken from his or her employer and placed under the guardianship of a different person until a legal review took place to prove or dismiss the claim that the liberated African was in danger. ${ }^{6}$ These are the two regulations that Jose Gomes da Silva used in Miquelina's petition that she be removed from her employer and then emancipated.  
The complaint was based on 15 receipts to Emerenciana Roza de Oliveira for the sums she received for renting out Miquelina's service as a wet nurse  
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[^0]:    5 Rabula was the name given to a person who practised law without having a formal education or degree. On the abolitionist movement in Brazil, see Azevedo, 2010.
6 Decree of 12 April 1832, Regulations on the execution of the Law of 7 November 1831 regarding the slave trade, article 10 .