JURISPRUDENCE-I

Kelsens Pure Theory of Law

Abstract
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on October 11, 1881, Hans Kelsen attended the University of
Vienna and received his doctorate in law there at the age of twenty-five. After a few years of
additional study at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, he became in 1911 professor of
public law and jurisprudence at the University of Vienna. He came to Harvard in 1941, and while
there he wrote for American readers a summary and in part a revision of his earlier legal
philosophy. The principal themes of Kelsen's writings have been his theories of law and the state.
Kelsen was a legal positivist. He labelled his theory of positive law "the pure theory of law." He
explained the nature of its purity as- It seeks to preclude from the cognition of positive law all
elements foreign thereto. The limits of this subject and its cognition must be clearly fixed in two
directions: the specific science of law, the discipline usually called jurisprudence, must be
distinguished from the philosophy of justice, on the one hand, and from sociology, or cognition
of social reality, on the other. It should be distinguished from the philosophy of justice. While the
pure theory of law is a science, justice is an "irrational ideal" and "a judgment of value,
determined by emotional factors and therefore subjective in character."
The theory attempts to answer the question 'what, and how the law is, and not how it ought to be.
It is a science of law (jurisprudence), not legal politics." the pure theory aims at avoiding the
adulteration and obscurity which goes with the uncritical mixture of the law with elements of
psychology, sociology, ethics and political theory.

Research methodology:
The methodology that will be used by the researcher is non-empirical. The researcher would rely
primarily on secondary sources of data in the form of books, articles, journals, reports and
Internet resources. The researcher would follow a descriptive style throughout the project while
the analytical style would also be used wherever required. The Harvard Bluebook Citation Guide
will be followed.
Research Questions:
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4.

What is Kelsens theory of Law?

Is kelsens theory of law applicable to the modern legal society?
What are the grounds on which it is being criticized by other jurists?
What implication does the Kelsens theory of law carry?
5. What contributions has it made on the legal Jurisprudence?