Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.70.23.05
Efficacy as a Condition of Validity in Hans Kelsen’s General Theory of Norms
Luka Burazin
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
According to Kelsen, there are two (factual) conditions under which one can say that a legal norm is to (or ought to) be observed, and if not observed, then applied, i.e., that a norm exists or is valid. These are: 1) the fact that a norm has been posited (and has not been repealed), and 2) the fact that a norm is efficacious or that it has the possibility of being efficacious. The paper focuses on the second of the two (factual) conditions of validity. Its main aim is to reconstruct and critically analyse efficacy as a condition of validity in Hans Kelsen’s General Theory of Norms both in the light of his newly introduced distinction between the conditional and full validity of a norm and the dynamic aspect of the legal order. It also aims to give a systemic account of efficacy as a condition of validity of both general and individual legal norms, taking into account the temporal aspect of validity, i.e., the moments in which a norm becomes valid and ceases to be valid, and the time span during which it remains valid.
The paper first outlines Kelsen’s understanding of the concept of efficacy (Section 2). It then analyses and reconstructs the efficacy condition as a condition for the beginning of a legal norm’s validity (Section 3), and goes on to analyse and reconstruct the efficacy condition as a condition of the end of a legal norm’s validity. Finally, the paper systematizes the conditions under which the general hypothetical sanction-decreeing legal norm and the individual hypothetical and categorical sanction-decreeing legal norms acquire and lose their validity (Section 5).
Keywords
Hans Kelsen; validity; existence; efficacy; legal order
Hrčak ID:
244577
URI
Publication date:
28.9.2020.
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