This article focuses on the justifications Hans Kelsen gives for the widespread practice of compromise in democracies. First, I have disentangled the ingredients and functionalities of compromise in democracies as they appear in Kelsen’s works, including Allgemeine Staatslehre, The Essence and Value of Democracy and General Theory of Law and State. Second, I have emphasised the current questions regarding Kelsen’s zealous defence of compromise and the particular place he confers to it in his theory of democracy.