# Léon Duguit — The New State character guide

> Léon Duguit in The New State by Mary Parker Follett.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Duguit, M. Léon Duguit, M. Duguit, M. Léon Duguit of Bordeaux

**First appearance:** 0002-part-i-the-group-principle

## Snapshot

The Bordeaux jurist whose doctrine of social solidarity the narrator admires and then presses hard, asking how le droit objectif actually evolves.

## Who they are

Duguit holds that positive law must follow le droit objectif and that the state's right to will rests on the thing willed, not on any subjective right. The narrator agrees — then disagrees, because Duguit separates will and purpose from the reciprocal interchange instead of seeing them as one process. His pragmatism, still clinging to an absolute standard in 'social solidarity,' becomes the foil against which the book argues that jurisprudence must be founded on the whole social process, not on ends alone.

## In the story

### [The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters/the-new-state)

Mentioned in the context of legal and political pluralism, providing theoretical support for group-based governance.

### [II: The Occupational Group](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters/ii-the-occupational-group)

Referenced for his theories on social solidarity and the role of groups in law.

### [XXVIII: Political Pluralism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters/xxviii-political-pluralism)

Cited for his 'objective' theory of law and new conception of the state, which challenges traditional sovereignty.

### [XXIX: Political Pluralism and Sovereignty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/chapters/xxix-political-pluralism-and-sovereignty)

His theory of 'le droit' based on social solidarity is discussed and critiqued for denying the reality of a collective will.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/characters/leon_duguit
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_new_state_se/characters