Eugene Erlich is a well-known Austrian sociologist and lawyer, born in the territory of modern Ukraine. He is considered by experts as one of the founders of the sociology of law. Even despite the fact that the term itself was introduced by another scientist - Dionisio Antsilotti. Moreover, it was Ehrlich who holds the primacy in extending it to the field of scientific knowledge, which at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries was formed at the intersection of law and sociology. His program work, important for understanding the ideas of a scientist, is called The Founding 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 Erlich was born in 1862. He was born in Chernivtsi, which are now located in the same region in Ukraine, and at that time were part of Bukovina. She was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
His father worked as a lawyer. Simon Erlich was from Poland. A Jew by birth already adopted Catholicism in adulthood. The choice in favor of this faith was made by Eugene Erlich himself. This happened in the 1890s.
Education
In the biography of Eugene Erlich, the education he received played a large role. He decided to follow in his father's footsteps, starting to study law. First he studied at Lviv, and then - at the University of Vienna.
In 1886 he became the owner of the Doctor of Law Award. In 1895 he was rehabilitated. That is, he went through the procedure for obtaining the highest academic qualifications, which follows the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This practice is common in many European and Asian higher education institutions.
After that, Eugene Erlich began to teach 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 to teach at the university, which at that time was highly regarded as a stronghold of German culture on the eastern outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the educational institution, he remained working until the very end of his active teaching career, going from a regular teacher to a rector. He led the university in 1906 - 1907.
When the First World War began, Chernivtsi was quite quickly occupied by Russian troops. Erlich managed to leave for Switzerland, where his work was particularly highly regarded.
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 staying in Chernivtsi was unsafe.
Personal life of Eugene Erlich did not work out, he never married. In 1922, a scientist died in Vienna at the age of 59 from diabetes.
Sociology of Law
Photo Eugene Erlich became known after he outlined the concept of "living law". He is considered its founder.
Being a professional lawyer by training, he initially sharply criticized statism and legal positivism, speaking from the perspective of the sociology of law.
According to Ehrlich, the sociology of law was an industry that investigated law based solely on facts. To them he attributed possession, customs, expression of will and domination. In the formation of his views, a great place was played by the circumstances in which he built his career, as well as the knowledge and experience of legal culture in Bukovina, where Austrian law had to closely coexist with local customs and traditions. On their basis, legal practice was often carried out.
The similar coexistence of the two systems made him seriously doubt the interpretations of the law that had previously been proposed by 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.
