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Natural law (Latin: ius naturale, lex naturalis) is a system of law based on a close observation of natural order and human nature, from which values, thought by the proponents of this concept to be intrinsic to human nature, can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted laws of a state or society).
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- Natural rights and legal rights
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- Early formulations of the concept of natural law
natural law, in philosophy, system of right or justice held to be common to all humans and derived from nature rather than from the rules of society, or positive law.
There have been several disagreements over the meaning of natural law and its relation to positive law. Aristotle (384–322 bce) held that what was “just by nature” was not always the same as what was “just by law,” that there was a natural justice valid everywhere with the same force and “not existing by people’s thinking this or that,” and that appeal could be made to it from positive law. However, he drew his examples of natural law primarily from his observation of the Greeks in their city-states, who subordinated women to men, slaves to citizens, and “barbarians” to Hellenes. In contrast, the Stoics conceived of an entirely egalitarian law of nature in conformity with the logos (reason) inherent in the human mind. Roman jurists paid lip service to this notion, which was reflected in the writings of St. Paul (c. 10–67 ce), who described a law “written in the hearts” of the Gentiles (Romans 2:14–15).
St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) embraced Paul’s notion and developed the idea of man’s having lived freely under natural law before his fall and subsequent bondage under sin and positive law. In the 12th century Gratian, an Italian monk and father of the study of canon law, equated natural law with divine law—that is, with the revealed law of the Old and New Testaments, in particular the Christian version of the Golden Rule.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
A comprehensive overview of natural law theory, a type of moral and legal theory that derives the authority of legal standards from the nature of human beings and the world. The article explains the two kinds of natural law theory, the conceptual and the substantive, and their main claims, such as the Overlap Thesis, the Neo-Naturalism, and the Procedural Naturalism.
Sep 23, 2002 · 1. Key Features of Natural Law Theories. 1.1 Natural law and divine providence. 1.2 Natural law and practical rationality. 1.3 The substance of the natural law view. 1.4 Paradigmatic and nonparadigmatic natural law theories. 2. Theoretical Options for Natural Law Theorists. 2.1 Natural goodness. 2.2 Knowledge of the basic goods.
Feb 5, 2007 · In short: a natural law theory of (the nature of) law seeks both to give an account of the facticity of law and to answer questions that remain central to understanding law.
Natural law is the idea that there are forms of law that exist by themselves in nature, regardless of whether people exist or recognise them or not. Unlike other forms of law (called positive laws) that have been agreed on by society, such laws would be given to all, and would not be possible to go against. Such rights are called natural.
