Hans Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law as Critique of the “Authoritarian” Understanding of Law and Jurisprudence

Abstract

In this paper, I analyse Hans Kelsen’s understanding of jurisprudence and law – by contrasting the normative-dogmatic understanding, which I will call “authoritarian”. By establishing the primacy of politics and rejecting the prescriptive function of jurisprudence, Hans Kelsen enabled a democratic concept of law (and of jurisprudence), and at the same time a critical and political approach. Kelsen defines the law from a dynamic perspective, which justifies the constant changeability of the law – and in this respect the primacy of democratic politics over dogmatic jurisprudence. The normative basis for Kelsen’s understanding of jurisprudence is his relativism, which is based on a moral position on the autonomy of the individual.