Hans Kelsen, Sociology of Law and Legal Anthropology

Hans Kelsen (1881-1973) es el más reconocido pensador del Derecho Positivo en Latinoamérica.Si bien algunos lo hemos criticado por sustentar una posición extrema del Positivismo a través de suTeoría Pura del Derecho, otros le han agradecido su gran contribución a través de su Teoría del DerechoJerárquico y su propuesta de un Tribunal Constitucional autónomo del Poder Judicial para garantizardicha jerarquía. Sin embargo, ambos grupos de críticos hemos estudiado poco a Kelsen para juzgarlo. Hafaltado conocer más del Kelsen crítico y humano, que puede apreciarse en otras de sus contribuciones,como en su debate sobre el concepto de JusticiaHans Kelsen (1881-1973) is the most recognize thinker of Postive Law in Latin-America.While some of us have criticed him for taking an extreme Positivist positive with his Pure Theory ofLaw, other have thanked him for his great contribution through his Hierarchical Theory of Law andhis proposal of a Constitutional Court autonomous from the Judicial Power, in order to guarantee suchHierarchy. Nevertheless, both groups of critiques have studied Kelsen very few to judge him. There hasbeen a lack of knowledge of the critical and human Kelsen, which can be appreciated in some of his othercontributions, as well as in his debate concerning the concept of Justice.In the following lines, parting from one of Kelsen’s books, and specifically a particular passage fromthis book, I will discuss the concept of Justice and its relation with legal anthropology’s and sociologyof law’s basic assumptions. We note here that I have used this passage of Kelsen’s book in another ofmy works, in which I tried to construct a theoretical framework for a concept of Justice, parting from thevery same passag