Huvelin made important contributions to the sociological study of the earliest forms of Western law.
His imaginative if sometimes speculative scholarship explored links between magic and the emergence of ideas of private rights.
He also tried to reformulate Durkheim's own ideas of law to make them more compatible with the instrumental legal outlook of jurists.
Towards the end of his life he became involved with efforts to shore up waning French influence in the Middle East.
In 1919 he led a mission to Syria to assess the growing threats to French interests in the region.