Jean Carbonnier : Un juriste dans la cité

Complete reference : ARNAUD, André-Jean, Jean Carbonnier : Un juriste dans la cité, préface de Jacques Commaille, Coll. Droit et Sociétés Classics, LGDJ, 2012, 191 p.

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Biography of Jean Carbonnier, taken from the book.

Jean Carbonnier is considered to be the greatest jurist of the 20th century.

He exposed civil law in textbooks from the Thémis collection, but mastered it as well and for example public law, criminal law or economic policy.

He marked the century by his work in preparation for legislative reform of family law, in his conception of legislative art.

The main interest of this book is to reproduce interviews with Jean Carbonnier. The first concerns his itinerary towards the sociology of law, the second, his description of the development of the sociology of law, and the third, the internationally understood legal sociology.

If we take more particularly the first interview, which clarifies the thought by the character, we can measure that Jean Carbonnier, greatly influenced by his year of philosophical study (notably the reading of Lucien Lévy-Bruhl), chose the right because it is a practical art and moved towards civil law because it offered more outlets. He explains his teaching methods, both written and oral. He insists that it cannot be designated as "legislator" because only the people deserve this title and that he only had to prepare the work.

He also expressed his reluctance towards European law, his distance from the university and the need to be modest.

He developed of course his attachment to sociology, to his characters such as Georges Gurvitch and the creation of the legal sociology laboratory, in Paris 2, as well as his direction of the Sociological Year.

Through these words in light touches, we can perceive who Jean Carbonnier was.

The text of this interview is available for students registered on the e-course.