A typical definition of natural law which overstressed the universality of the concept was
provided by Olivecrona (1971: 8):
“In contradistinction to positive law, ‘natural law’ generally means a law that
has not been posited. Even if it is ascribed to the will of God, it is supposed
to have always existed. Its validity is not thought to be limited to a certain
people or a certain time. The law of nature is timeless and universal.
Early Western natural law theories are immensely diverse, trace their origin
in Greek civilisation (Morrison, 1997) and were much debated until the nineteenth
century, when natural law largely fell out of favour in Europe.
The common feature of natural law theories is that they ‘all turn away from the reality of
an actual legal system and purport to discover principles of universal validity
in some external source’ (Dias and Hughes, 1957: 372). Natural law implied
throughout a search for ideals higher than positive law: ‘The history of natural
law is a tale of the search of mankind for absolute justice and of its failure’
(Friedmann, 1967: 95) and its main attraction as a legal philosophy ‘has been
as often the justification of existing authority as a revolt against it’ (p. 95). At
different times, natural law ‘has been used to support almost any ideology; but
the most important and lasting theories of natural law have undoubtedly been
inspired by the two ideas, of a universal order governing all men, and of the
inalienable rights of the individual’ (Friedmann, 1947: 19).
Twining (2000: 61) depicts classical natural law as ‘a tradition which has
claimed universality for its principles and which significantly antedates the rise
of the nation-state’.
Sir William Blackstone (1723-80) wrote in 1765. To him, natural law,
being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior
in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries,
and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and
such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority,
mediately or immediately, from this original.
Anti-Marxist German scholar Rudolf Stammler (1856-1938), who
cultivated a theory of ‘natural law with a changing content’, which holds that
‘while the ideal of justice is absolute, its application must vary with time, place
and circumstance’.17 Among these variations, moral attitudes are prominent.
Freeman (2001: 93-4) gives a telling example: ‘The Greeks did not think slavery
was wrong: we do. In which case to concede that the content of natural law
may vary with social differences is to give up any attempt to construct objective
norms and values.’
Discussing Stammler’s difficult ‘pure’ theories about the ‘right law’ and assessing his contribution, Stone (1965:
172) shows that, his design was to seek, not universal rules of just law (which he thought
quite unattainable), but merely a universal method of ascertaining just law
in empirically conditioned situations. In theory this method should be
absolute and universal, though even as to this, Stammler was sufficiently
a twentieth century child to admit that ‘a systematic and universal view of
law may also undergo change and progress’.
See Also
- Legal Pluralism
- Legal Positivism
- Greek legal philosophy
- Roman legal philosophy
- The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics
- Natural obligation
The Legal History of Natural Law
This section provides an overview of Natural Law
Concept of Natural Law
An introductory definition of Natural Law is provided here: the idea there existed rights and duties attached to human beings as such that existed in all times and all places, that could be discovered by reason, and that should be applied in the relations between groups
Natural Law
Embracing mainstream international law, this section on natural law explores the context, history and effect of the area of the law covered here.
Resources
See Also
See Also
- Legal Biography
- Legal Traditions
- Foregin Policy
- Foreign Affairs
- Historical Laws
- History of Law
References (Papers)
- Reasonable Inference Of Authority To Control Hazardous Waste Disposal Results In Potential Liability: United States V. Aceto Agricultural Chemicals Corporation, Anita Letter, Jan 2020
- Law In Books And Law In Action: The Problem Of Legal Change, Jean-Louis Halperin, Oct 2017
- The Constitution And The Declaration Of Independence: Natural Law In American History, Edward J. Melvin, C.M., Sep 2017
- Natural Law Basis For The Copyright Doctrine Of Droit Moral, Robert C. Hauhart, Sep 2017
- Save Our Cabinets V. U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Jaclyn Van Natta, Sep 2017
- Balancing Rights: The Modern Problem, Rev. Thomas A. Russman, Sep 2017
- The Problem Of Unjust Laws, Charles E. Rice, Sep 2017
- Natural Law And The “Is” – “Ought” Question: An Invitation To Professor Veatch, John Finnis, Sep 2017
- Natural Law And The “Is” – “Ought” Question, Henry Veatch, Sep 2017
- Jacques Maritain On The Natural Law And Its Application, Charles P. Nemeth, Aug 2017
- Some Brave Ideas On An Old Rule Of Law: The Natural Law According To Jacques Maritain – Jacques Maritain On The Natural Law And Human Rights, Ralph J. Masiello, Aug 2017
- Fighting For Environmental Justice: The Life And Work Of Professor Eileen Gauna, Clifford J. Villa, Aug 2017
- Front Matter, Natural Resources I. Journal, Jul 2017
- Aldo Leopold, Estella Bergere, Mia Casita And Sheepherding In New Mexico And Colorado, Andrew Gulliford, Jul 2017
- Liability And Compensation For Oil Spill Accidents: International Regime And Its Implementation In China, Yuan Yang, Jul 2017
- Nasty Weather And Ugly Produce: Climate Change, Agricultural Adaptation, And Food Waste, Richard Moore, Jul 2017
- Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities In Twentieth-Century Spain By Erikswyngedouw, John Morseau, Jul 2017
- Rules And Values In Virtual Optimization Of California Hydropower, Sonya F. P. Ziaja, Jul 2017
- Hydropower Development In India: The Legal-Economic Design To Fuelgrowth?, Surabhi Karambelkar, Jul 2017
- Introduction, Natural Resources Vii Journal, Jul 2017
- The Domestic Well Exemption In The West: A Case Study Of Santa Fe’S Municipal Ordinance, Maxine N. Paul, Jul 2017
- Fighting For Environmental Justice: The Life And Work Of Professor Eileen Gauna, Clifford J. Villa, Jul 2017
- Punctuated Equilibrium: A Model For Administrative Evolution, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. 353 (2011), Mark C. Niles, Jun 2017
Further Reading
- Natural Law in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford University Press)
- The entry “natural law” in the Parry and Grant Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (currently, the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law, 2009), Oxford University Press
Ennio Cortese, La norma giuridica: Spunti teorici nel diritto comune classico (2 Vols. 1962) 1.1-141. Brian Tierney, “Natura id est Deus: A Case of Juristic Pantheism?” Journal of the History of Ideas 24 (1963) 307-322, reprinted in Church Law and Constitutional Thought in the Middle Ages (1979). Rudolf Weigand, Die Naturrechtslehre der Legisten und Dekretisten von Irnerius bis Accursius und von Gratian bis Johannes Teutonicus (1967). Daniel John O’Connor, Aquinas and Natural Law (1968 [1967]). Francis Oakley, Natural law, Conciliarism and Consent in the late Middle Ages: Studies in Ecclesiastical and Intellectual History (1984). Anthony J. Lisska, Aquinas’s Theory of Natural Law: An Analytic Reconstruction (1996). Robert A. Greene, “Instinct of Nature: Natural Law, Synderesis, and the Moral Sense,” Journal of the History of Ideas 58 (1997) 173-198. Brian Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights: Studies on Natural Rights, Natural Law and Church Law 1150-1625 (1997). Jean Porter, Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion. Grand Rapids, Michigan-Cambridge, United Kingdom: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010).
Spanish Translation of natural law
This is the legal translation of English to Spanish in relation to natural law and / or a definition of this topic: Derecho Natural (in Spanish, without translation of the dictionary entry).
Hierarchical Display of Natural law
Law > Sources and branches of the law > Legal science
Natural law
Concept of Natural law
See the dictionary definition of Natural law.
Characteristics of Natural law
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Resources
Translation of Natural law
- Spanish: Derecho natural
- French: Droit naturel
- German: Naturrecht
- Italian: Diritto naturale
- Portuguese: Direito natural
- Polish: Prawo natury
Thesaurus of Natural law
Law > Sources and branches of the law > Legal science > Natural law
See also
- Creation of a party
- Dissolution of a party
- Founding of a party
- Prohibition of a party
- Internal religious law
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