A student at the
École Normale Supérieure (class of 1902), he received a
licentiate in law and
agrégation 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. In 1948, at the age of 66, he went to the seminary of legal sociology at the
École Pratique des Hautes Études to teach
ancient Greek 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 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. == Principal works ==