This essay of juridical culture, by using elements of conceptual history,
intends to analyze the functional changes of the Alcaldía de Barrio of
Buenos Aires, in the period of 1770-1820. Taking as a starting point
the anachronism made by the police historiography, which tends to
present that institution –the Alcaldía de Barrio– as if it was a “security
police” under the paradigm of the State, the article attempts to show
the jurisdictional logic that organized the praxis of that political institution. In order to accomplish that, two concepts become essential
–Quietness and public security–, and that is because they synthesized
different principles which guided the praxis of the officials that proceeded as Alcaldes de Barrio, in a period in which the justice and the police were in constant conflict.