Robert Alexy, born in 1945 in Oldenburg, Germany, is a legal philosopher who studied law and philosophy at the University of Gottingen and has held a professorship at the University of Kiel. His work blends legal positivism with natural law theory around what he calls the claim to correctness, the idea that law necessarily claims moral validity, developed through three theses: that legal systems incorporate moral principles, that law connects to common morality, and that law must relate to a just morality. Alexy's major works include A Theory of Legal Argumentation, A Theory of Constitutional Rights, and The Argument from Injustice, which defends Gustav Radbruch's formula on the invalidity of extremely unjust laws. He was elected to the Gottingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2002 and received Germany's Order of Merit in 2010.
Facts
RoleJurist and a legal philosopher 2 Nationality / Jurisdiction Place of Death Classification
Field of LawLegal Philosophy and Jurisprudence 1 Role
Role (category) FAQs
How does Robert Alexy's claim to correctness relate to the Radbruch formula?
Alexy holds that law by its nature claims moral correctness, and that this claim and the Radbruch formula tie law necessarily to morality.
Alexy argues that it is part of the nature of law that it claims to be morally correct. A commentator in the Jotwell jurisprudence section describes the claim of correctness and its correlate, the Radbruch formula, as displaying necessary connections between law and morality.
Connections
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Source Robert Alexy (Wikipedia)
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Nationality
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Source Robert Alexy (Wikipedia)tier 2
Sources
1. Wikidata: Robert Alexy
Wikidata Q67156, P101 field of work claim
P101 (field of work): philosophy of law
Wikidata Q67156, P569 date of birth claim (year)
P569 (date of birth): 1945
Wikidata Q67156, P569 date of birth claim (full date)
P569 (date of birth): 1945-09-09
Wikidata Q67156, P570 date of death claim (year)
P570 (date of death): 2026
Wikidata Q67156, P570 date of death claim (full date)
P570 (date of death): 2026-09-05
Wikidata Q67156, P19 place of birth claim
P19 (place of birth): Oldenburg
Wikidata Q67156, P20 place of death claim
P20 (place of death): Kiel
View the Source2. Robert Alexy (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroduction, gender
His books were translated into more than 20 languages.
Introduction
Robert Alexy (9 September 1945 - 5 September 2026) was a German jurist and a legal philosopher, who taught at the Kiel University from 1986 to 2013, and also internationally.
In Legal System: German Legal System, Wikipedia lead sentence
was a German jurist and a legal philosopher
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