Duguit, LÉOn (1859–1928)

Léon Duguit, born in Libourne (Gironde), France, was a jurist and legal and political theorist. One of the most revolutionary and influential thinkers of his generation, he studied law at the University of Bordeaux and taught at the University of Caen from 1883 until he returned to the University of Bordeaux in 1886 to teach there. He became dean of the law faculty at Bordeaux and taught there for the rest of his career.

While at Bordeaux, Duguit developed an allegiance to his colleague Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), a pioneer sociologist, who may have influenced the formation of Duguit's “objectivist theory” and “law of solidarity.” Duguit contended that social solidarity occurs when people have common needs that can be satisfied jointly or when people have different ...