The Neglect of Hans Kelsen in West German Public Law Scholarship, 1945–1980

Abstract

The article focuses on the disregard of West-German scholars of public law for Hans Kelsen between 1945 and 1980. Due to fundamental reservations about both Kelsen and his work, a vast majority of scholars of public law refused to work with Kelsen’s ideas. They considered his theory both inadequate and wrong, and they refused even to discuss it. Kelsen was ignored during the 1950s because of four characteristics of his biography and his works, which were incompatible with the general atmosphere in West Germany: He was a Jew, a legal positivist, and an emigrant, and he had a left-liberal and pluralist political opinion. Therefore, his ideas stood in opposition to the opinions of the vast majority of scholars of public law in West Germany. This atmosphere gradually changed since the 1960s. However, the reception of Kelsen’s ideas took place in a serious way only during 1980s. This article also explores the reasons for this belated renaissance.