Analysis Of Kelsen's Pure Theory Of Law

In our class of Philosophy of Law, we studied different types of theories of law that shape law today. We focused on many different philosophers from various time periods. I chose to focus this paper on Hans Kelsen and his Pure Theory of Law. Just by hearing the name Pure Theory of Law, one might question what does Kelsen mean by “pure” and how does one achieve the purity of law. One may also ask is purity even valuable for the law? According to Hugh McCarthy ASC Blog, “The theory is ‘pure’ because it separates jurisprudence from other disciplines like ethics, politics, and psychology.”, this is important because different fields of study have various methods of getting a solution. In Study Guide #4, you gave many examples of what would

A regular person can not apply any sanctions if one breaks a rule. There has to be a cop or judge who decides what to do with the person who breaks the law. Another point Kelsen makes is, ‘If a person X performs action A, then you, the legal official, ought to apply sanction S to him’. The first three checks of Kelsen’s theory of law are very closely tied together. The third check is tied with the second check because the legal official applies the sanction and this brings us back to the idea of coercion. The first check then provides the norm to approve of the coercion, if the norm is

Kelsen says the main difference between a legal norm and a moral norm is that a moral norm can be addressed to normal people and a legal norm is only addressed to legal officials. This ties back to the third check. This last check is very important for a laws purity because Kelsen is trying to create a separation between law and morality. Kelsen says that a law does not have to be morally justifiable, even though a law may be immoral it can still be a law. For example, according to Kelsen, in Nazi Germany, the law to kill Jews and not help Jews was a valid law because sanctions were applied by legal officials and the citizens of Nazi Germany were living under organized coercion. The citizens feared death or other severe punishments if they did not oblige to that law. Although Kelsen’s ideas are not popular amongst common law, his ideas are key to civil