Hans Kelsen’s Philosophy of Revenge

Hans Kelsen devoted significant attention to “primitive” law, particularly to the phenomenon of blood revenge. His analysis of blood revenge bears witness to the intent to offer a general theory of law, in all its different manifestations. Such a theory, far from being restricted to the centralized legal systems of modern states, also accounts for more decentralized legal systems, including those of “primitive,” stateless societies and international law. The present chapter develops both an analysis of Kelsen’s sociological and anthropological works on revenge and an examination of the role that revenge played in his famous pure theory of law.