Hans Kelsen was an important figure in early 20th century thinking about law on the European continent. (Among other things, he was the author of the constitution used by Austria when it became a democracy after WWI.) His importance for our purposes is two-fold: he represents a sophisticated form of legal positivism that influenced H. L. A. Hart (who we will read next) and he represents the sort philosophical position that some German thinkers reacted against in the wake of WWII (the first paper by Hart you will read discusses this controversy). Kelsen taught at Berkeley during WWII and for a time after it. The two papers you will read date from that period.

The first is a brief account of his alternative to the positivist formula "command of the sovereign." The "Basic Norm" is the key idea but think also how Kelsen takes law to be structured from, or around, this norm.

The second paper is a sustained argument for positivism and against natural law theory. As such it is comparable to the selection you read from Austin's lecture 5.

In both cases, be ready to compare Kelsen to Austin, and ask yourself whether you agree with what he says--both when he disagrees with Austin and when they agree.