Evgeniy Erlikh is a well-known Austrian sociologist and jurist who was born on the territory of modern Ukraine. He is considered by experts to be one of the founders of the sociology of law. Even despite the fact that the term itself was introduced by another scientist - Dionisio Anzilotti. At the same time, it is Ehrlich who takes the lead in extending it to the sphere of scientific knowledge, which at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century was formed at the intersection of law and sociology. His programmatic work, important for understanding the ideas of the scientist, is called "Fundamentals of the Sociology of Law". It was published in 1913. In this article we will tell the biography of the scientist.
Childhood and youth
Eugene Erlikh was born in 1862. He was born in Chernivtsi, which are now located on the territory of the region of the same name in Ukraine, and at that time were part of Bukovina. It was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
His father was a lawyer. Simon Erlich was originally from Poland. A Jew by origin, already in adulthood, he converted to Catholicism. Yevgeny Erlich himself made a choice in favor of this faith. This happened in the 1890s.
Education
In the biography of Evgeny Erlich a big roleplayed by the education he received. He decided to follow in his father's footsteps by studying law. First he studied at Lviv University, and then at the University of Vienna.
In 1886 he won the Doctor of Laws award. In 1895 he was habilitated. That is, he passed the procedure for obtaining the highest academic qualification, which follows the degree of Ph. D. This practice is common in many European and Asian higher education institutions.
After that, Evgeny Erlikh began teaching at the university, and at the same time practiced law in Vienna.
Scientific career
After some time, the hero of our article returns to his native Chernivtsi, where he begins teaching at the university, which at that time was highly valued, considered a stronghold of German culture on the eastern outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
He stayed at the school until the very end of his active teaching career, going from an ordinary teacher to the rector. He led the university in 1906 - 1907.
When the First World War began, Chernivtsi was quickly occupied by Russian troops. Ehrlich managed to leave for Switzerland, where his work was especially highly valued.
After the official collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bukovina became part of Romania. There began an active persecution of teachers who lectured in German, so it was not safe to stay in Chernivtsi.
Evgeny Erlich's personal life did not work out, he never married. In 1922 the scientist diedin Vienna at the age of 59 from diabetes.
Sociology of Law
Yevgeny Erlikh's photo became known after he detailed the concept of "living law". He is considered its founder.
Being trained as a professional lawyer, he initially sharply criticized statism and legal positivism, speaking from the standpoint of the sociology of law.
According to Ehrlich, the sociology of law was a branch that studied law based solely on facts. To them he attributed possession, customs, will and domination. In shaping his views, a great place was given by the circumstances in which he built his career, as well as knowledge and experience of the legal culture in Bukovina, where Austrian legislation had to closely coexist with local customs and traditions. Legal practice was often carried out on their basis.
This coexistence of the two systems made him seriously doubt the interpretations of the law that had previously been proposed by the theorist Hans Kelsen.
The scientist came to the conclusion that it is the norms of behavior that have a significant impact on the management of life in society.
The Living Law
Erlich introduced the concept of "living law", which regulated public life. It differed significantly from legal norms, being specially created for the adoption of relevant decisions by the courts. These norms turned out to be able to regulate exclusively the disputes of those who attractedofficial structure decisions.
At the same time, the laws of life itself became the basis for the routine structuring of social relations. Their source was in all kinds of public associations in which people had the opportunity to coexist. It is important that their essence was not in litigation or dispute, but in establishing cooperation and peace.
What, in this view, was considered law depended on which body had the opportunity to give importance to what was supposed to directly regulate. Erlich believed that laws should be understood as all the norms of public associations without exception.
Thus, they were originally conditioned as fundamental, since they lay at the basis of any social order in which the social position of the individual was clearly defined through a set of duties and rights that exist in relation to other social statuses or positions.
