On September 30, 1974, José Diogo, a tractor driver, kills his boss, Columbano Líbano Monteiro, after being dismissed from his job, claiming he had a right to work. He is imprisoned in Beja, Alentejo, and he is freed pending trial. The courts are reluctant to judge the case because Diogo receives support from trade unions and political parties. When the court convenes at Tomar, Santarém, a crowd convenes and disrupts the court, and conducts a popular judgment in the hall of the tribunal, deciding to free Diogo, and condemning the boss, posthumously, for dismissing his employee and attacking him. The incident became a law case study.