It is a legal system graphed in the form of a pyramid, which is used to represent the hierarchy of laws, one above the other and is divided into three levels, the fundamental level in which the constitution is located, as the supreme norm of a state and from which the validity basis of all the other norms that are located below it is derived, the next level is legal and there are organic and special laws, followed by ordinary laws and decrees of law, to then continue with the sub-legal level where we find the regulations, below these the ordinances and finally at the end of the pyramid we have the sentences, and as we get closer to the base of the pyramid, it becomes wider, which means that there are a greater number of legal norms.
Hans Kelsen, creator of the Kelsen pyramid, jurist, politician and professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna, defined this system as the way in which a set of legal norms are related and the main form of relationship between them within a system, It is on the basis of the hierarchy principle. This means that the norms or laws that make up a legal system are related to each other according to the principle of hierarchy, so that a law that is below cannot be contradicted with another that is above since it would not have legal effect or it should not.
In the application of the Kelsen pyramid in the Venezuelan legal system, the three levels can be appreciated.
At the fundamental level we have the constitution, in which one could mention the preamble, the dogmatic and the organic, three fundamental parts of the constitution. Then we continue with the legal level, where the organic laws are contained that according to article 203 of the constitution of that country, are those that dictate orders to organize public powers or to develop constitutional rights and those that serve as a normative framework for other laws. Then we have the decrees of law that are norms with the rank of law issued by the executive power without the intervention of any congress or parliament, at this level there are also ordinary and special laws. At the last level the legal sub we have the regulations,ordinances and sentences and are included in this level since they do not have the status of a formal law.
