Classics of Modern Legal Philosophy and Theory

Scholars from Poland and around the world who shaped legal theory and philosophy – and, with each of them, texts published in the journal that concern their thought or closely related themes. All articles are free to read in open access.

World classics of modern legal philosophy and theory

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832)

English philosopher, jurist and social reformer, the founder of utilitarianism and a forerunner of modern legal positivism. Themes from this current are gathered in the Legal Positivism collection.

John Austin (1790–1859)

English jurist and legal theorist, the founder of analytical positivism and of the conception of law as the command of a sovereign backed by sanction. Stanley L. Paulson writes on this current in his study The Core of the Idea of Legal Positivism.

Gustav Radbruch (1878–1949)

German legal philosopher and politician, author of the famous formula under which statutory lawlessness yields to supra-statutory justice. Bartosz Szyler devotes a study to the antinomies of his idea of law.

Hans Kelsen (1881–1973)

Austrian jurist and legal philosopher, the creator of the pure theory of law and of normativism. Around the pure theory and the basic norm the journal has published a translation of Stanley L. Paulson and a reconstruction of Kelsen’s discussion with Jerzy Wróblewski; see the Legal Positivism collection.

Adolf Reinach (1883–1917)

German philosopher and jurist, a representative of the phenomenology of law, author of the conception of the a priori foundations of civil law and of the theory of social acts.

Alf Ross (1899–1979)

Danish jurist and legal philosopher, a leading representative of Scandinavian realism and of the predictive account of legal validity. A kindred current of sociological jurisprudence is presented by Aleksander Olaf Szpojankowski in his text on Roscoe Pound.

Lon L. Fuller (1902–1978)

American legal philosopher, a representative of the non-positivist current, author of the conception of the inner morality of law and a participant in the famous debate with H.L.A. Hart on the connection between law and morality. These themes are taken up in the Law and Morality collection.

Herbert L.A. Hart (1907–1992)

British legal philosopher, the leading representative of twentieth-century legal positivism, author of the conception of the rule of recognition and of the union of primary and secondary rules. The journal has published a translation of Hart’s lecture, a study by Andrzej Grabowski and an analysis of the rule of recognition.

John Rawls (1921–2002)

American political and social philosopher, author of the theory of justice as fairness. Wojciech Ciszewski analyses his conception in the journal.

Jürgen Habermas (1929–2026)

German philosopher and sociologist, a representative of social philosophy, the creator of the theory of communicative action and of the conception of deliberative democracy.

Ronald Dworkin (1931–2013)

American legal philosopher, the foremost critic of positivism, author of the conception of legal principles, integrity and law as an interpretive practice. Texts in this current are gathered in the Legal Positivism collection.

Joseph Raz (1939–2022)

British legal philosopher of Israeli origin, a representative of exclusive positivism, author of the service conception of legal authority and of the theory of practical reasons. Beata Polanowska-Sygulska analyses his moral philosophy in a two-part series.

John Finnis

Australian legal philosopher, the leading representative of contemporary natural law theory, author of the conception of basic human goods and practical reasonableness. Michał Sopiński analyses his thought in the journal.

Robert Alexy

German legal philosopher, author of the theory of principles as optimisation requirements, of the weighing formula and of a non-positivist account of law. Milena Korycka reconstructs his conception in the journal.

Polish classics of modern legal philosophy and theory

Leon Petrażycki (1867–1931)

Polish and Russian scholar, the creator of the psychological theory of law, of the conception of intuitive law, imperative-attributive emotions and the policy of law. Hanna Dębska devotes a study to his career.

Jerzy Lande (1886–1954)

Polish legal theorist and philosopher, a pupil and the most important continuator of Leon Petrażycki, author of works in the theory and sociology of law.

Czesław Znamierowski (1888–1967)

Polish philosopher and legal theorist, the creator of the theory of constructive norms and thetic acts, and a forerunner of the analysis of conventional acts in law.

Czesław Martyniak (1906–1939)

Polish legal philosopher, a representative of Thomistic legal philosophy and of the natural-law critique of Kelsen’s normativism. Murdered by the German occupier in 1939.

Stanisław Ehrlich (1907–1997)

Polish theorist of law and politics, a scholar of pluralism, interest groups and group norms.

Grzegorz Leopold Seidler (1913–2004)

Polish scholar of the theory of state and law and of the history of political and legal doctrines.

Kazimierz Opałek (1918–1995)

Polish legal theorist and philosopher, a forerunner of analytical reflection on directives, norms and subjective rights.

Zygmunt Ziembiński (1920–1996)

Polish legal theorist and philosopher, the creator of the Poznań school of legal theory, author of works on the logic of norms, the conception of coupled norms and the analysis of legal language.

Józef Nowacki (1923–2005)

Polish legal theorist, a representative of analytical legal theory, a scholar of the rule of law, general clauses and the „appropriate” application of provisions.

Jerzy Wróblewski (1926–1990)

Polish legal theorist, the creator of an original paradigm of legal interpretation and application (the clarificative theory of interpretation); among his continuators is Marek Zirk-Sadowski.

Wiesław Lang (1928–2016)

Polish legal theorist, a scholar of legal validity and of the relation between law and morality. These themes are gathered in the Law and Morality collection.

Maciej Zieliński (1940–2020)

Polish legal theorist, the creator of the derivational conception of legal interpretation (omnia sunt interpretanda). Agnieszka Choduń presents it in the journal.