Hans Kelsen

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Hans Kelsen
Kelsen c. 1930
Born	(1881-10-11)October 11, 1881 Prague, Austria-Hungary
Died	April 19, 1973(1973-04-19) (aged 91) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Education	University of Vienna (Dr. iur., 1906; habilitation, 1911)
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Legal positivism
Institutions	University of Vienna University of Cologne Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies University of California, Berkeley
Thesis	Hauptprobleme der Staatsrechtslehre entwickelt aus der Lehre vom Rechtssätze (1911)
Doctoral students	Eric Voegelin[1] Alfred Schütz
Main interests	Public law International law Philosophy of law
Notable ideas	Pure theory of law Basic norm Constitutional court
Influences Hume · Kant · Vaihinger
Influenced Bobbio · Dreier · Hart · Raz · Kunz · Merkl [de]

Hans Kelsen (/ˈkɛlsən/; German: [ˈhans ˈkɛlsən]; October 11, 1881 – April 19, 1973) was an Austrian jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher. He was the author of the 1920 Austrian Constitution. Many of its amendments are still being used. The rise of totalitarianism in Austria, Kelsen left for Germany in 1930. He was forced out of his university job after the Nazi took power in 1933 because of his Jewish ancestry. That year, he left for Geneva. In 1940, he moved to the United United States. In 1934, Roscoe Pound said Kelsen was "undoubtedly the leading jurist of the time". While in Vienna, Kelsen met Sigmund Freud and wrote on social psychology and sociology.

By the 1940s, Kelsen's reputation was already well known in the United States. He was known for his defense of democracy and for his Pure Theory of Law. Kelsen's was known for more than just legal theory. He was also known for his thoughts os political philosophy and social theory. His influence included the fields of philosophy, legal science, sociology, theory of democracy, and international relations.

1. ↑ Christian Damböck (ed.), Influences on the Aufbau, Springer, 2015, p. 258.