Do The Elements Of Sanction And Coercion Make The Law Normative In Nature? A Deeper Look Into Kelsen’s Theories
Shaun Aaron Abram, Jindal Global Law School
ABSTRACT
Sanction and coercion go hand-in-hand, and both play a significant role in explaining the legality of the law. Hans Kelsen, an Austrian philosopher, believed that law is a normative science, in the sense that law is made up of a set of norms that form the coercive nature of law to which individuals should compulsorily comply with. It is these norms that make a certain act – legal or illegal. These norms not only provide a reaction to certain types of behavior but also helps in attaching a specific set of sanctions to the coercive order as well. The paper discusses Kelsen’s theory in detail using examples in the Indian realm highlighting the validity of this theory in the modern legal systems and explains how a coercive order can be distinguished from other rules of Law.
