Louis Gernet, 1882–1962, was a French philologist

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 and sociologist

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

.

Life

A student at the École Normale Supérieure

École Normale Supérieure

The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 (class of 1902), he received a licentiate

Licentiate

Licentiate is the title of a person who holds an academic degree called a licence. The term may derive from the Latin licentia docendi, meaning permission to teach. The term may also derive from the Latin licentia ad practicandum, which signified someone who held a certificate of competence to...

 in law and agrégation

Agrégation

In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...

 in grammar. In 1917, supported by the Fondation Thiers, he received his doctorate in letters with a dissertation entitled "Researches on the development of legal and moral thought in Greece".

For a long time he led a modest academic career, devoted to teaching Greek at the University of Algiers

University of Algiers

The University of Algiers Benyoucef Benkhedda is a university located in Algiers, Algeria. It was founded in 1909 and is organized into seven faculties.-History:...

. In 1948, at the age of 66, he went to the seminary of legal sociology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études

École pratique des hautes études

The École pratique des hautes études is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions....

 to teach ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 anthropology. From 1949 to 1961 he was editor of the journal L'Année sociologique, to which he also contributed under the heading "Legal and moral sociology".

In 1964, two years after Gernet's death, his pupil Jean-Pierre Vernant

Jean-Pierre Vernant

Jean-Pierre Vernant was a French historian and anthropologist, specialist in ancient Greece. Influenced by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Vernant developed a structuralist approach to Greek myth, tragedy, and society which would itself be influential among classical scholars...

 founded the Centre Louis-Gernet, a centre for the comparative study of ancient societies which is attached to the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...

.

Principal works

• Recherches sur le développement de la pensée juridique en Grèce ancienne, 1917 (doctoral dissertation; republ. Albin Michel, 2001)
• With André Boulanger: Le Génie grec dans la religion (Albin Michel), 1932
• Droit et société dans la Grèce ancienne, 1955
• Anthropologie de la Grèce antique (Maspéro), 1968

Gernet also translated and wrote commentaries