Louisiana State University Law Center LSU Law Digital Commons Book Sections Faculty Scholarship 2008 A Man for All Reasons: The sesU of Alexis de Tocqueville's Writings in U.S. Judicial Opinions Christine Corcos Louisiana State University Law Center,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/book_sections Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Corcos, Christine, "A Man for All Reasons: The sU es of Alexis de Tocqueville's Writings in U.S. Judicial Opinions" (2008). Book Sections. 46. http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/book_sections/46 This Book Section is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Book Sections by an authorized administrator of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. A Man for All Reasons: The Uses of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Writing in U S. Judicial Opinions ∗ Christine A. Corcos Before Saul Litvinoff appeared on U. S. shores, another aristocratic comparativist, Alexis de Tocqueville, came to cast a critical yet affectionate eye on this republic. Since I am fond of both of these thinkers, I offer this overview of the judicial uses of the writings of the earlier scholar in appreciation of the later one. I. Introduction The United States has never been given to particular adoration of foreign observers of its mores, who quite often turn out to be critics rather than admirers. Nevertheless, one of its favorite visitors 1 since his one and only appearance on the scene in 1831-1832 2 is the 25-year-old magistrate Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), sent by his government to study penal reform in the new republic.