Die Geltung des Völkerrechts als gesellschaftliches Phänomen

"This legal and social scientific analysis of International Law conducted during the early 1930s and presented to the Faculty of Law at Berlin University in 1936 is an early and major contribution to the sociology of law, although its ultimate goal is directed towards legal problems in making the social determination of International Law better understood. In so doing, the author challenges a positivistic understanding of law and against Kelsen holds that for International Law in particular a social science understanding of its validity and reality is a necessity. Numerous cases are presented to demonstrate that despite the existence of respective laws continuous reassurance is practiced adding to the functionality of International Law but demonstrating also its implicit weakness. ... The analysis with its well-documented detail provides insights about inter-state relations in between the World Wars that are difficult to corroborate from today's knowledge and perspective. This publication by an author who soon after its acceptance had to leave Nazi-Germany represents an important historical resource in its detail and a rare set of interpretations in both methodological as well as substantive terms."--"English Abstract," p. 189-90.