Kelsen, Hans (1881–1973)

Austrian-American jurist and philosopher. In analysing the structure of law, he argued that a legal system was a hierarchy of norms. Each norm, or legal proposition, was validated by a previous norm leading back to a fundamental postulate, or Grundnorm; for example, the will of the queen in Parliament. Thus the law and the state were essentially the same. This he called the pure theory of law; pure because it was free from any ethical, ideological, or sociological considerations.