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Hans Kelsen

Austrian lawyer (1881-1973) · United States · Academics · Died at 91

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He built the skeleton beneath Austrian democracy and spent decades insisting that law is a system, not a sermon - a position that made him the most important legal theorist almost no one could place.

AcademicsLawyerLawPhilosophy20th Century

A life in dates

1973Died19 April 19731972Honorary Doctorate of Strasbourg-III UniversityAward1963Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of ParisAward1961Austrian Decoration for Science and ArtAward1960“By determining law - so far as it is the subject of a specific science of law - as norm, it is delimited against nature; and science of law against natural science.”In their wordsPure Theory of Law (revised ed., 1960), 7. Moral Norms as Social Norms

1952“Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men.”In their words"What Is Justice?" (1952), published in What is Justice? (1957)

“One of the most important elements of Christian religion is the idea that justice is an essential quality of God.”In their wordsSeptember 1952"The Idea of Justice in the Holy Scriptures", Rivista Juridicade la Universidadde Puerto Rico, Sept., 1952-April, 1953., published in What

1951Honorary Doctorate from the National Autonomous University of MexicoAward1949“Law is an order of human behavior. An “order” is a system of rules. Law is not, as it is sometimes said, a rule.”In their wordsGeneral Theory of Law and State (1949), I. The Concept of Law, A. Law and Justice, a. Human Behavior as the Objects of Rules

1938“The mark of Platonic philosophy is a radical dualism.”In their wordsApril 1938"Platonic Justice", Ethics, April 1938. Translated by Glenn Negley from "Die platonische Gerechtigkeit," Kantstudien, 1933. (The author

1936Honorary Doctor of Harvard UniversityAward1881Born11 October 1881

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Hans Kelsen (1881-1973) ~1930 © Georg Fayer (1892-1950) OeNB 8026867Hans Kelsen (1881-1973) ~1930 © Georg Fayer (1892-1950) OeNB 8026867Espacio jurídico y espacio antijurídicoEspacio jurídico y espacio antijurídicoFritz Sander Alte und neue Staatsrechtslehre 1920 TitelFritz Sander Alte und neue Staatsrechtslehre 1920 TitelHans Kelsen (cropped)Hans Kelsen (cropped)Hans Kelsen Bust Verfassungsgerichtshof Wien 01Hans Kelsen Bust Verfassungsgerichtshof Wien 01Hans Kelsen BustVerfassungsgerichtshof Wien 02Hans Kelsen BustVerfassungsgerichtshof Wien 02Hans Kelsen close-up (cropped)Hans Kelsen close-up (cropped)Hans KelsenHans Kelsen

In their own words 5

,
Hans Kelsen
,
5 statements, newest first

  1. By determining law - so far as it is the subject of a specific science of law - as norm, it is delimited against nature; and science of law against natural science.

    1960, Pure Theory of Law (revised ed., 1960), 7. Moral Norms as Social Norms, Own words

  2. Justice is primarily a possible, but not a necessary, quality of a social order regulating the mutual relations of men.

    1952, "What Is Justice?" (1952), published in What is Justice? (1957), Own words

  3. One of the most important elements of Christian religion is the idea that justice is an essential quality of God.

    Sep 1952, "The Idea of Justice in the Holy Scriptures", Rivista Juridicade la Universidadde Puerto Rico, Sept., 1952-April, 1953., published in What, Own words

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Awards

Honorary Doctorate of Strasbourg-III University1972
Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Paris1963
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art1961
Honorary Doctorate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico1951
Honorary Doctor of Harvard University1936
Ring of Honour of the City of Vienna
Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Grand Officer of the Order of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Honorary Doctor of the University of Vienna
Honorary Doctorate of Salzburg University
Honorary Doctor of the University of Utrecht

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About this person

Born in 1881, Kelsen rose as a constitutional expert in post-war Vienna and drafted the 1920 Austrian Constitution, a document still in force today. His "pure theory of law" sought to describe legal systems without moral judgement, treating law as structure rather than ethics. Totalitarianism drove him from Austria to Germany, Switzerland, and finally to California in 1940. Roscoe Pound called him "unquestionably the leading jurist of the time" in 1934, but American law schools never gave him a permanent chair; he taught politics at Berkeley until 1952. He spent the next years rewriting his slim 1934 treatise into a dense second edition, published in 1960 and translated to English in 1967, three decades after fleeing Europe.

Country
United States
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1881 to 1973 · aged 91

Academics from the United States 6

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