Side by side – Hohfeld and Somló on rights and duties

Abstract

Abstract 2017 was a double anniversary: 1917 was the year of Somló’s main work – [Juristische Grundlehre Foundations of Law] and the appearance of Hohfeld’s last study – Fundamental Legal Conceptions… II. However, there is a greater connection between the two authors. Their work is intertwined by the impact of John Austin and the aspiration to introduce results of analytical philosophy of law to the spiritual community of lawyers, mostly being averse from this branch of philosophy. The common topos of their works was the conceptual problem of right/duty and the far reaching impact of their handling of the problem. The exposition of the problem did not come from nowhere but arouse from the intellectual mold of the age – the turn of 20th century. In their elaborations, they have long lasting impact, initiating scholarly debates to current times. It is argued that though their conceptual world differed, it is better to conclude that their results complemented, rather than destroyed each other and it is possible to integrate them in one overall conception

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