Hans Kelsen, Sociology of Law and Legal Anthropology

Abstract

Hans Kelsen (1881-1973) is the most recognize thinker of Postive Law in Latin-America.
While some of us have criticed him for taking an extreme Positivist positive with his Pure Theory of
Law, other have thanked him for his great contribution through his Hierarchical Theory of Law and
his proposal of a Constitutional Court autonomous from the Judicial Power, in order to guarantee such
Hierarchy. Nevertheless, both groups of critiques have studied Kelsen very few to judge him. There has
been a lack of knowledge of the critical and human Kelsen, which can be appreciated in some of his other
contributions, as well as in his debate concerning the concept of Justice.
In the following lines, parting from one of Kelsen’s books, and specifically a particular passage from
this book, I will discuss the concept of Justice and its relation with legal anthropology’s and sociology
of law’s basic assumptions. We note here that I have used this passage of Kelsen’s book in another of
my works, in which I tried to construct a theoretical framework for a concept of Justice, parting from the
very same passage