Law and Democracy in America

Alexis de Tocqueville is a singular author in juridical-sociological thought. The text reflects on the main biographical characteristics of the author to understand properly the objectives and motivations presented in his research about democracy in America and, concomitantly, to search elements that allow us to think about the French and Latin American cases. When analyzing his relation with the legal field, it’s intended to observe the analytical potential that the author offers, in order to start a discussion about the practical scope of democracy, the question of associativism, the decentralization and the process of rights’ construction. Moreover, an analysis of his conception of the proper institutions is carried through. The examination of state, legislative and, in special, legal institutions reveals the relation between them is much more of tension than of harmony. In the same way, it is analyzed how the Judiciary configures itself, in the ancient regime and in democracy, as an essential institution in the process of guaranteeing rights and, still more, in the proper process of civic education of the individuals from the propagation of an ethos, promoting a reflection on the points that assist us to think the relation between Tocqueville and the legal field.