The present project aims to study the evolution, over the last thirty years, of the European institutions’ action, assessing in which way they have contributed to the evolution of the states’ juridical regimes on access to law and justice. It also intends to analyse the main transformations of the legal aid law and access schemes of several European Union countries, including Portugal, which took place during the last thirty years. It includes a case-study in Portugal, on the family and children conflicts, to evaluate the access to law and justice system regarding such conflicts and the application of Family and Child Law, in order to identify what kind of role do the institutions and the law play in promoting the citizens’ individual and collective rights. Studying the application and performance of the access to law and justice instruments allows, consequently, analysing if the reforms of legal aid law contribute to a better or worse access to law and justice and, therefore, to a more or less democratic society.