Georg Jellinek

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens (Dodo Press) Georg Jellinek

Georg Jellinek (1851-1911) was a German legal philosopher. He is associated with legal positivism but is critical of that theory on the grounds that law should be understood as having an intrinsic relationship with society. He defined the law as an ethical minimum. Jellinek is best known for his essay The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens (1895), which argues for a universal theory of rights, as opposed to the culturally and nationally specific arguments then in vogue. He argued that the French Revolution, which was the focal point of 19th century political theory, should not be thought of as arising from a purely French tradition, but as a close analogue of revolutionary movements and ideas in England and the United States.