Architect of Modern Legal Theory

The Academy project Hans Kelsen Werke makes Kelsen's complete oeuvre digitally accessible in a historical-critical hybrid edition.

Biography

Hans Kelsen (1881-1973), a scholar of Jewish origin born in Austro-Hungary and expelled from Germany by the National Socialists in 1933, who found a new home in exile in the USA, is still one of the most discussed legal theorists on a global scale more than 40 years after his death.

He is one of the very few legal scholars to have gained worldwide recognition outside his native German-speaking circle and to have had a lasting influence on the legal discourse in both Eastern and Southern Europe, in East Asia and Latin America, and even in the Anglosphere to a more than negligible extent.

Works

In addition to his groundbreaking work on legal theory, Hans Kelsen's academic oeuvre includes numerous contributions to the theory and dogmatics of constitutional and international law, the sociology of law as well as legal, political and social philosophy. It provides an insight into the impressive breadth and diversity of his interests and his immense creative power.

His published work - if one limits oneself to the original publications and also ignores the numerous translations - comprises well over 17,000 pages, covers more than six decades of research and writing, has been published across several continents and translated into more than two dozen languages. The scientific legacy, which according to initial estimates amounts to around 58,000 pages, is not yet included and has so far only been partially indexed and evaluated.

Information

On these pages you will find general information about the Hans Kelsen Werke project and Hans Kelsen himself: