The Sortition Law, officially Law No. 1,860 of 4 January 1908, introduced compulsory military service for the Brazilian Armed Forces. It was approved in 1906 but only de facto implemented in 1916, replacing forced recruitment - the antiquated "blood tribute" - and allowing the formation of a reserve. Sortition or draft lottery was the mechanism used for recruiting soldiers from 1916 to 1945, when it was replaced by general class call, which is the mandatory military service system in 21st century-Brazil. An earlier law of 1874 had already introduced the lottery, but it was not applied due to popular resistance. Also controversial, the 1908 law was one of the major military reforms of the First Brazilian Republic and had lasting effects on the Brazilian Army's relationship with the country's politics and society. The arguments advanced by lottery advocates in 1908–1916 remain the official justifications for conscription a century later.

Hermes Rodrigues da Fonseca was a Brazilian field marshal and politician who served as the eighth president of Brazil between 1910 and 1914. He was a nephew of marshal Deodoro da Fonseca, the first president of Brazil, and general João Severiano da Fonseca, patron of the Army Health Service. His parents were the marshal Hermes Ernesto da Fonseca and Rita Rodrigues Barbosa.