Bio: (1884-1964) French jurist and sociologist. Henri Lévy-Bruhl was a Roman law professor at several universities - Grenoble, Lille, Paris, École pratique des hautes études, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, and École libre des hautes études.

Lévy-Bruhl helped in establishing the sociology of law as an independent subdiscipline. In his research, he examined the nature of law, the methodology of legal studies, crime, abuse of power, and judicial decision-making. His view of the law was influenced by the theories of Émile Durkheim. This influence can be seen in Lévy-Bruhl’s view of the nature of the law. According to him, law was a “social fact”, hence it was a deterministic relation with other social facts, and could be studied objectively and scientifically. He named the science of the law “juristic” science. The methodology of this science, according to Lévy-Bruhl, should use observation, surveys, comparisons, and interpretation. He founded Centre d'Études Sociologique (Center for Sociological Studies) in 1946, where he taught students research methodology and techniques of juristic science.

Main works

Aspects sociologiques du droit (1955);

Recherches sur les actions de la loi (1960); 

Sociologie du droit (1961);

La preuve judiciaire: Étude de sociologie juridique (1964).