Ernest Roguin, born on 27 May 1851 in Yverdon-les-Bains, died on 5 May 1939 in Lausanne, followed his studies in jurisprudence at the Universities of Lausanne and Leipzig from 1869 onwards and obtained his master’s degree in 1874 by the Academy of Lausanne (which at that time has not yet been a University properly speaking and, therefore, did not have the permission to award doctorates).
In the very beginning of his career, he was sent as a diplomat to Paris until 1884; and later in his life he was sent as a Swiss representative to the Den Haag Conferences. Even in 1884, he was nominated an extraordinary professor at the University of Lausanne, and from 1880 to 1926 he taught academic courses in the domains of international civil law, comparison of legal orders as well as introductions to jurisprudence. From 1903 to 1917, he signed as president of the École des sciences sociales et politiques, and from 1891 he was a member of the Institut de droit international. In his time, Roguin was highly regarded as an outstanding jurisprudent and received many titles and honours.
The thesis of Ernest Roguin was dedicated to article 50 of the Swiss Federal Constitution and appeared in 1880. In his main domain, he published a first treatise on “Conflits des lois suisses en matière internationale et intercantonale” and between 1904 and 1912 appeared his magistral work “Traité de droit civil compare” in seven volumes. Our focus, however, is on the two titles covering legal philosophy, i.e. the early volume “La régle de droit” (1889) and the tree volumes proposing “La science juridique pure” (1923).
For more information about the person, please consult:
Norberto Bobbio: Le vaudois Ernest Roguin, sociologue et théoricien du droit, in: Cahiers Vilfredo Pareto, Jg. 181, Nr. 59, S. 121-140;
François Guisan: Ernest Roguin, in: Schweizer Juristen der letzten hundert Jahre, mit einem Vorwort von Max Huber, mit einer historischen Einleitung von Eduard His, hrsg. von Hans Schulthess, Zürich: Schulthess & Co. A.-G., 1945, S. 393ff.
Selected Works of the Author
Ernest Roguin: Étude de science juridique pure – La règle du droit (Analyse générale, spécialités, souveraineté des États, assiette de l’impôt, théorie des statuts) – Système des rapports de droit privée précédé d’une introduction sur la classification des disciplines, Paris/ Lausanne: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence/ F. Rouge, 1889; Idem: Observation sur la codification des lois civiles, Lausanne: Ch. Ciret-Genton, 1896, pp. 73-134; Idem: La science juridique pure, 3 vols., Paris/ Lausanne: Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence/ F. Rouge 1923; Idem: Sociologie 5 vols., Lausanne: C. Pasche, 1928-1932.