Emile Durkheim

K ELSEN states that the multiplicity of meanings given to the word State is one of the causes of the difficulties in the scientific study of this juridical and sociological entity; it has so influenced the writers on the subject that there is an unheard of disagreement in its terminology.' However, it is possible to classify the different concepts of the State that have appeared from ancient Greece to our days so as to be able to define it precisely and clearly through critical analysis. This is what the eminent Brazilian jurist and sociologist, Pinto Ferreira has done so well in his General Principles of Modern Constitutional Law. The different essential elements of the State according to the classic theory, began to be distinguished by the Greek philosophers. For Aristotle they were: the community and independence; that is, the State is an organized social group that enjoys an absolute freedom to develop its own existence. This Aristotelian concept was further clarified by Bodin who considered sovereignty fundamental characteristic of the State. These ideas were the point of departure of the majority of writers who conceived the State as a human collectivity established on specified territory and endowed with sovereign power.2 In spite

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• Attaining 'a Sophisticated Maturity

  Open Access•Armand L Mau, Armand L Mauss et al.•Journal for the Scientific Study…•2000

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