Hans Kelsen Austrian and American lawyer and philosopher Date of Birth: 11.10.1881 Country: Austria

1. Life and Early Career
2. Founding the Austrian Constitutional Court
3. Emigration and "Pure Theory of Law"
4. Later Career in the United States

Life and Early Career

Hans Kelsen, an Austrian and American legal theorist and philosopher, was born in 1881 into a Jewish family in Prague. He moved to Vienna with his parents at the age of two.

Kelsen's early work focused on the history and theories of public law, including Dante Alighieri's views on the subject. In 1918, he became a professor at the University of Vienna and played a role in drafting the constitutional laws of post-war Austria.

Founding the Austrian Constitutional Court

Kelsen established the Constitutional Court of Austria in 1920 and served as its first judge. He developed the concept of a constitutional court and constitutional review, becoming one of the founding theorists of legal positivism.

Emigration and "Pure Theory of Law"

In 1930, Kelsen accepted a professorship at the University of Cologne in Germany. In 1934, he published "Reine Rechtslehre" (Pure Theory of Law), a seminal work that established him as a leading philosopher of law.

The rise of the Nazi regime forced Kelsen to flee first to Geneva and then to his native Prague. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, he emigrated to the United States in 1940.

Later Career in the United States

Kelsen's initial experience at Harvard Law School was unwelcoming. However, at the age of 62, he found a home at the University of California, Berkeley, where he spent the rest of his career in the Department of Political Science.

Kelsen remained intellectually active until the end of his life, which spanned nearly seven decades of scholarship. His final major work, "Allgemeine Theorie der Normen" (General Theory of Norms), remained unfinished at the time of his death.