Full Idea
Land is the basis of an aristocracy; …it is by landed property handed down from generation to generation that an aristocracy is constituted.
Gist of Idea
Aristocracy is constituted by inherited landed property
Source
Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy in America (abr Renshaw) [1840], 1.01)
A Reaction
Presumably there can be aristocrats by mere royal patronage, who have perhaps gambled away their land. They need protection by the other aristocrats.
Book Reference
Tocqueville,Alexis de: 'Democracy in America (abridged)', ed/tr. Renshaw,Patrick [Wordsworth 1998], p.14