Edward Elgar have published Dr Alexander Orakhelashvili’s recent monograph which examines the system and workings of the English legal system through the prism of Hans Kelsen’s pure theory of law.
While traditionally Kelsen’s pure theory has been thought of as less suitable to examine the English legal system, Dr Orakhelashvili’s monograph uses the start-to-finish approach the pure theory requires to apply to all legal systems in relation to English law and focuses, among others on the interaction of law and policy in the process of the operation of common law, the basis of the UK’s legal constitution, relationship between the parliament and courts, administrative discretion and judicial review, the overall efficacy of the English legal system and its Grundnorm, and the issues of the rule of law. The monograph deals also with the criticisms addressed to Kelsen’s work that have indirectly at least contributed to somewhat preconceived attitude as to the relevance of the pure theory with regard to English legal system.