Radbruch, Gustav (1878–1949)

Gustav Radbruch is an emblematic figure in twentieth-century German legal philosophy and legal science. His particular blending of legal philosopher, dogmatist and politician, and his personal history, interwoven with the tragedy of the Weimar Republic and the rebirth of a democratic Germany after the Nazi horror, have given him special prestige and influence on both constitutional and ordinary jurisprudence in Germany. Some of Radbruch’s theses, like the one in his well-known article ‘Gesetzliches Unrecht und übergesetzliches Recht’ (1946 – translatable as ‘Statutory Non-law and Suprastatutory Law’), remain highly topical in German universities and courts.