The Legal Spirit and Lawyers as a Counterweight to Democracy

Key Insight

Lawyers and the legal spirit in the United States constitute the most powerful barrier against the excesses of democracy. Their specialized study cultivates habits of order, a taste for forms, and an instinctive love for regular sequence, naturally fostering strong opposition to revolutionary impulses and the unthinking passions of democracy. This unique knowledge grants them a distinct social rank, perceiving themselves as a privileged class, arbiters among citizens, and leads to a certain contempt for the judgment of the multitude.

Lawyers share many aristocratic tastes, including a preference for order, love of formalities, deep distaste for the multitude's actions, and secret contempt for popular government. While private interest guides them, their spirit is eminently conservative and antidemocratic when their high societal position is unchallenged. They prioritize legality over liberty and are less afraid of tyranny than arbitrariness, making them useful instruments for authority. In a democracy, when other elites are excluded, lawyers step into political power as the enlightened and capable individuals whom the people trust.

The legal profession is the only aristocratic element that readily combines with democratic elements, acting as a liaison between the people and authority. In England and the United States, the law of precedents, which values past opinions and decisions, makes lawyers more timid and static in their thinking compared to other nations. This obscure, precedent-based law elevates lawyers to an almost priestly class. In America, where lawyers form the intellectual and superior political class, they apply an 'almost imperceptible brake' on democratic passions, countering novelty with respect for old, broad designs with narrow views, and ardor with dilatory habits. This pervasive legal spirit, fostered in courtrooms and spread through public life and jury duty, ultimately shapes society and imbues all citizens with some of the magistrate's instincts.