This article will investigate the problem of the possibility of studying legally the work of José Lins do Rego, writer known for seeking literary reports that resembled the reality of brazilian patriarchal northeast. The law, understood as a social phenomenon, must be, somehow, present in the artwork with fidelity to the reality of that society studied. Because that, it wondered whether it would be possible and how it would be possible the artwork to approach to the reality to narrate it. The academic Antonio Cândido guided this article in the task. From the six possibilities of comparison between literature and society that Antonio Cândido elaborates, three were judged as fruitful to analyzing the work of José Lins do Rego. With these three methodological instruments, social and legal elements of José Lins do Rego's books were exposed. This procedure led to concluding by the possibility of a legal study of the paraiban author's work. So it was possible to figure methodologies, general and specific objectives and justifications for research.