After studies in Cervera and the practice of law as an advocate, Dou de Bassols was appointed to a chair for canon and Roman law at the University of Cervera in 1773. During the Peninsular War, he was a member of the Cortes of Cadiz, which he presided over in 1811.
His Institutiones del Derecho público general de España (1800–03) were the first systematic outline of the governmental institutions of the Spanish-speaking world. The work was also the first to make a distinction between the general principles governing administrative proceedings, and the special rules applicable to specific authorities or areas of law.
