Hans Kelsen and the Austrian Constitutional Court (1918-1929)
| Autor | Sara Lagi |
| Cargo | Ph.D., History of European Political Thought, Perugia University |
| Páginas | 273-295 |
273
Revista Co-herencia Vol. 9, No 16 Enero - Junio 2012, pp. 273-295. Medellín, Colombia (ISSN 1794-5887)
Hans Kelsen and the
Austrian Constitutional
Court (1918-1929)*
Recibido: marzo 12 de 2012 | Aprobado: mayo 30 de 2012
Este artículo examina las contribuciones de
Hans Kelsen al establecimiento del primer Tri-
bunal Constitucional en Austria, analizando
las diferencias centrales entre el modelo kel seniano de tribunal
constitucional y el modelo de su maestro alemán, el jurista Georg
Jellinek, al tiempo en el que se enfoca en el trasfondo histórico-
-
guración e incluso en el colapso del Tribunal Constitucional. De
manera distinta a la mayoría de trabajos dedicados a esta cues-
tión, este artículo le presta particular atención a la dimensión
histórico-política tras los esfuerzos de Kelsen para crear un sis-
tema serio de defensa jurídica de la Constitución Austríaca. En
este sentido, el modelo kelseniano de tribunal constitucional se
analiza en referencia al problema de proteger a la joven democra-
cia austríaca, que surgió de las cenizas del Imperio Habsburgo, en
contra de sus numerosos oponentes. Este problema se ubica en el
centro de los trabajos de Kelsen sobre la democracia publicados
en la década de 1920.
Palabras clave
Kelsen, Tribunal Constitucional, Austria, historia política, demo-
cracia.
This article intends to examine Hans Kelsen’s
-
trian Constitutional court, analyzing the key
differences between Kelsen’s model of Constitutional court and
that of his German mentor, the Jurist Georg Jellinek, while fo-
cusing on the concrete Austrian historical-political background
which had an impact on the shaping and even on the collapse
of the Constitutional Court. Unlike most of the works dedicated
to such topic, this article pays a great attention to the historical-
political dimension behind Kelsen’s efforts to create a serious
system of juridical defense of the Austrian constitution. In this
sense, Kelsen’s Constitutional Court is analyzed in reference
to the problem of protecting the young Austrian democracy -
emerged from the ashes of the Habsburg Empire – against its
numerous opponents. A problem which is at the core of Kelsen’s
works on democracy published in the 20s.
Key words
Kelsen, Constitutional Court, Austria, political history, democracy.
Resumen
Abstract
* This article would have
never been written if I
hadn’t had the luck and
opportunity to know
Professor Mario Alber-
to Montoya Brand. His
interest and researches
on Kelsen’s juridical and
political thought have
meant to me a new sti-
mulus to re study and re
consider Hans Kelsen’s
early studies on the
Austrian Constitutional
Court. This article came
from my Ph.D. investiga-
tion and exposes some of
the key conclusions of it.
** Ph.D., History of Euro-
pean Political Thought,
Perugia University. In
2008 she published a
monographic study on
Hans Kelsen’s politi-
cal thought, Il pensiero
politico di Hans Kelsen
(1911-1920). Le origini
di Essenza e valore della
democrazia (translated
into Spanish in 2007).
At present she works
as Lecturer on Political
Science and History for
two American Colleges
in Florence (Middlebury
College and Florence
University of the Arts),
while collaborating with
the Chair of History of
Political Thought, Uni-
versity of Florence.
Sara Lagi**
saralagi@hotmail.com
274
“Any minority – of class, religious or national – whose
interests are in any way protected by the Constitution has an
eminent interest in the constitutionality of the laws.”
H. Kelsen
1. The Constitutional Court in Austria: the antece-
dents
more than 40 years after his death, the Reine Rechtslehre, the sepa-
ration of law from history, philosophy, and politics –initiated, in
terms of methodology, with Hauptprobleme der Staatsrechtslehre– the
critique on the sociology of law, the State as a pure normative le-
gal order, and Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, i.e., constitutional jurisdic-
tion.
It is precisely on this last aspect of Kelsen’s rich corpus of re-
search that I would like to focus, in particular, on the jurist’s contri-
bution to the creation of the Constitutional Court of Austria’s First
Republic and, subsequently, to analyze the development of this ins-
titution until its considerable neutralization by conservative forces
in 1929. It is not my intention to elaborate on the connections bet-
ween the Court and Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law, a subject already
extensively investigated, but to illustrate the historical and political
-
-
titutional Court of Austria which Kelsen himself had to address and
mediate (Bongiovanni, 1998; Costa, Zolo, 2002; Vinx, 2007).
My present objective is to (re)read Kelsen’s contribution to the
Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit within the very real and pressing historical
and political context the jurist and professor of law found himself
operating during the period from the close of the Great War un-
came to be amended in an excessively conservative mode). To fully
understand this context necessitates consideration of a factor of ut-
most relevance: the Kelsian model of Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit was
to become integrated, although with elements of undeniable origi-
Hans Kelsen and the Austrian Constitutional Court 1918-1929)
Sara Lagi
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