Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis) is a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. ^[1] The phrase natural law is sometimes opposed to the positive law of a given political community, society, or nation-state, and thus can function as a standard by which to criticize that law. Positive law is a legal term that is sometimes understood to have more than one meaning A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions For the online game see Jennifer Government NationStates. The nation-state is a certain form of State that derives its legitimacy In natural law jurisprudence, on the other hand, the content of positive law cannot be known without some reference to the natural law (or something like it). Used in this way, natural law can be evoked to criticize decisions about the statutes, but less so to criticize the law itself. Some use natural law synonymously with natural justice or natural right (Latin ius naturale), although most contemporary political and legal theorists separate the two. Natural justice or procedural fairness is a legal philosophy used in some jurisdictions in the determination of just or fair, processes in legal proceedings Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

Natural law theories have exercised a profound influence on the development of English common law,^[2] and have featured greatly in the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas, Francisco Suárez, Richard Hooker, Thomas Hobbes, Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, and John Locke. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Francisco Suárez ( 5 January 1548, Granada, Spain - 25 September 1617, Lisbon, Portugal) was a Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Hugo Grotius or Huig de Groot, or Hugo de Groot; ( Delft, 10 April 1583 Rostock, 28 August 1645 Baron Samuel von Pufendorf ( January 8, 1632 &ndash October 13, 1694) was a German Jurist, political Philosopher John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. Because of the intersection between natural law and natural rights, it has been cited as a component in United States Declaration of Independence. The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then

Contents 1 History 1.1 Aristotle 1.2 Stoic natural law 1.3 Christian natural law 1.4 Islamic natural law 1.5 Hobbes' natural law 1.6 Liberal natural law 2 Contemporary Catholic understanding 3 In contemporary jurisprudence 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

History

The use of natural law, in its various incarnations, has varied widely through its history. There are a number of different theories of natural law, differing from each other with respect to the role that morality plays in determining the authority of legal norms. This article will deal with its usages separately rather than attempt to unify them into a single theory.

Aristotle

Greek philosophy emphasized the distinction between "nature" (physis, φúσις) on the one hand and "law", "custom", or "convention" (nomos, νóμος) on the other. Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of Reason and Inquiry. What the law commanded varied from place to place, but what was "by nature" should be the same everywhere. A "law of nature" would therefore have had the flavor more of a paradox than something which obviously existed. ^[3] Against the conventionalism that the distinction between nature and custom could engender, Socrates and his philosophic heirs, Plato and Aristotle, posited the existence of natural justice or natural right (dikaion physikon, δικαιον φυσικον, Latin ius naturale). Conventionalism is the philosophical attitude that fundamental principles of a certain kind are grounded on (explicit or implicit agreements in society rather than on SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Natural justice or procedural fairness is a legal philosophy used in some jurisdictions in the determination of just or fair, processes in legal proceedings Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Of these, Aristotle is often said to be the father of natural law. ^[4]

Aristotle's association with natural law is due largely to the interpretation given to his works by Thomas Aquinas. ^[5] This was based on Aquinas's conflation of natural law and natural right, the latter of which Aristotle posits in Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics (= Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics). Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled "Nichomachean" or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on Virtue and Moral character which The Eudemian Ethics (sometimes abbreviated EE in scholarly works is a work of Philosophy by Aristotle. Aquinas's influence was such as to affect a number of early translations of these passages,^[6] though more recent translations render them more literally. ^[7] Aristotle notes that natural justice is a species of political justice, viz. Natural justice or procedural fairness is a legal philosophy used in some jurisdictions in the determination of just or fair, processes in legal proceedings the scheme of distributive and corrective justice that would be established under the best political community;^[8] were this to take the form of law, this could be called a natural law, though Aristotle does not discuss this and suggests in the Politics that the best regime may not rule by law at all. Distributive justice concerns what is just or right with respect to the allocation of goods in a society Restorative Justice is commonly known as a Theory of criminal justice that focuses on crime as an act against another individual or community rather than the state Aristotle's Politics ( Greek Πολιτικά is a work of Political philosophy. ^[9]

The best evidence of Aristotle's having thought there was a natural law comes from the Rhetoric, where Aristotle notes that, aside from the "particular" laws that each people has set up for itself, there is a "common" law that is according to nature. Aristotle 's Rhetoric is an ancient Greek treatise on the art of persuasion dating from the fourth century BCE ^[10] The context of this remark, however, suggests only that Aristotle advised that it could be rhetorically advantageous to appeal to such a law, especially when the "particular" law of one's own city was averse to the case being made, not that there actually was such a law;^[11] Aristotle, moreover, considered two of the three candidates for a universally valid, natural law provided in this passage to be wrong. ^[12] Aristotle's theoretical paternity of the natural law tradition is consequently disputed.

Stoic natural law

The development of this tradition of natural justice into one of natural law is usually attributed to the Stoics. Natural justice or procedural fairness is a legal philosophy used in some jurisdictions in the determination of just or fair, processes in legal proceedings Stoicism, a school of Hellenistic philosophy, was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early third century BC Whereas the "higher" law to which Aristotle suggested one could appeal was emphatically natural, in contradistinction to being the result of divine positive legislation, the Stoic natural law was indifferent to the divine or natural source of the law: the Stoics asserted the existence of a rational and purposeful order to the universe (a divine or eternal law), and the means by which a rational being lived in accordance with this order was the natural law, which spelled out action that accorded with virtue. Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. Divinity and divine (sometimes 'the Divinity' or 'the Divine' are broadly applied but loosely defined terms used variously within different faiths and belief systems — Positive law is a legal term that is sometimes understood to have more than one meaning Legislation (or " Statutory law " is law which has been promulgated (or " Enacted quot by a Legislature or other Governing Divine law is any Law (or rule) that in the opinion of believers comes directly from the will of God (or a god. ^[13] These theories became highly influential among Roman jurists, and consequently played a great role in subsequent legal theory. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society

Christian natural law

Despite pagan associations with natural law theory, a number (though not all) of the early Church Fathers sought to incorporate it into Christianity (the suspect devotion of the Stoics to pagan worship no doubt aided in this adoption). Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings This was true in the West more so than in the East. The most notable among these was Augustine of Hippo, who equated natural law with man's prelapsarian state; as such, a life according to nature was no longer possible and men needed instead to seek salvation through the divine law and grace. The Fall of Man, or simply the Fall, in Christian doctrine refers to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God, Divine law is any Law (or rule) that in the opinion of believers comes directly from the will of God (or a god. In the Twelfth Century, Gratian reversed this, equating the natural and divine laws. Gratian, was a 12th century canon lawyer from Bologna. He is sometimes wrongly referred to as Franciscus Gratianus, or Johannes Gratianus, or Thomas Aquinas restored Natural Law to its independent state, asserting that, as the perfection of human reason, it could approach but not fully comprehend the Eternal law and needed to be supplemented by Divine law. Divine law is any Law (or rule) that in the opinion of believers comes directly from the will of God (or a god.

All human laws were to be judged by their conformity to the natural law. An unjust law was in a sense no law at all. At this point, the natural law was not only used to pass judgment on the moral worth of various laws, but also to determine what the law said in the first place. This could result in some tension. ^[14]

The natural law was inherently deontological in that although it is aimed at goodness, it is entirely focused on the ethicalness of actions, rather than the consequence. The specific content of the natural law was therefore determined by a conception of what things constituted happiness, be they temporal satisfaction or salvation. The state, in being bound by the natural law, was conceived as an institution directed at bringing its subjects to true happiness. A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. In the 16th century, the School of Salamanca (Francisco Suárez, Francisco de Vitoria, etc. The School of Salamanca is the Renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spanish theologians, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical Francisco Suárez ( 5 January 1548, Granada, Spain - 25 September 1617, Lisbon, Portugal) was a Francisco de Vitoria ( Francisci de Victoria; c 1492 &ndash 12 August, 1546) was a Spanish Renaissance Roman Catholic philosopher ) further developed a philosophy of natural law. After the Church of England broke from Rome, the English theologian Richard Hooker adapted Thomistic notions of natural law to Anglicanism. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Thomism is the philosophical school that arose as a legacy of the work and thought of Thomas Aquinas. Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs

Islamic natural law

The Maturidi school, the second largest school of Sunni theology, posits the existence of a form of natural law. In Islam, a Maturidi ( Arabic: الماتريدي) is one who follows Abu Mansur Al Maturidi 's theology which is a close variant of the Abu Mansur al-Maturidi stated that the human mind could know of the existence of God and the major forms of 'good' and 'evil' without the help of revelation. Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud Abu Mansur al-Samarqandi al-Maturidi al-Hanafi ( Arabic: محمد بن محمد بن محمود أبو منصور الماتريدي السمرقندي Al-Maturidi gives the example of stealing which is known to be evil by reason alone due to man's working hard for his property. Killing, fornication, and drinking alcohol were all 'evils' which the human mind could know of according to al-Maturidi.

The concept of Istislah in Islamic law bears some similarities to the natural law tradition in the West, as exemplified by Thomas Aquinas. Istislah (Arabic استصلاح "to deem proper" is a method employed by Muslim jurists to solve perplexing problems that find no clear answer in sacred religious Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law. However, whereas natural law deems good that which is known self-evidently to be good, according as it tends towards the fulfilment of the person, istislah calls good whatever is connected to one of five "basic goods". Al-Ghazali abstracted these "basic goods" from the legal precepts in the Qur'an and Sunnah: they are religion, life, reason, lineage and property. Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ghazālī (1058-1111 ( ابو حامد محمد ابن محمد الغزالی or امام محمد غزالی was born and died Some add also "honour".

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi also posited that human reason could discern between 'great sins' and good deeds.

Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, an Islamic scholar and polymath scientist, understood natural law as the law of the jungle. Ulema ( ar علماء,, singular ar عالِم,, "scholar" refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several A polymath ( Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής "having learned much" is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area " The Law of the Jungle " is usually an expression that means "every one for himself" and "anything goes" (survival of the strongest He argued that the antagonism between human beings can only be overcome through a divine law, which he believed to have been sent through prophets. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Divine law is any Law (or rule) that in the opinion of believers comes directly from the will of God (or a god. Muslims regard as Prophets of Islam ( Arabic: نبي) those non-divine humans chosen by Allah as Prophets This is also the position of the Ashari school the largest school of Sunni theology. The Ash'ari theology ( Arabic الأشاعرة al-asha`irah) is a school of early Muslim speculative theology founded by the theologian Abu al-Hasan ^[15]

Averroes in his treatise on "Justice and Jihad," and his commentary on Plato's Republic writes that the human mind can know of the unlawfulness of killing and stealing and thus of the five maqasid or higher intents of the Islamic sharia or to protect religion, life, property, offspring, and reason. Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Arabicأبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد better known just as Ibn Rushd (ابن رشد and in European Maqasid is the Arabic word for goals or purposes. In Islamic context it can refer to the purposes of Islamic faith Zakat (charity Sharia ( Arabic: ar شريعة) is the body of Islamic Religious law.

Hobbes' natural law

By the Seventeenth Century, the Medieval teleological view came under intense criticism from some quarters. Teleology ( Greek: telos: end purpose is the philosophical study of design and Purpose. Thomas Hobbes instead founded a contractualist theory of legal positivism on what all men could agree upon: what they sought (happiness) was subject to contention, but a broad consensus could form around what they feared (violent death at the hands of another). Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order Legal positivism is a school of thought in Jurisprudence and the Philosophy of law. The natural law was how a rational human being, seeking to survive and prosper, would act. It was discovered by considering humankind's natural rights, whereas previously it could be said that natural rights were discovered by considering the natural law. In Hobbes' opinion, the only way natural law could prevail was for men to submit to the commands of the sovereign. Because the ultimate source of law now comes from the sovereign, and the sovereign's decisions need not be grounded in morality, legal positivism is born. Jeremy Bentham's modifications on legal positivism further developed the theory. Jeremy Bentham ( IPA: or) (15 February 1748&ndash6 June 1832 was an English Jurist, Philosopher, and legal and Social reformer Legal positivism is a school of thought in Jurisprudence and the Philosophy of law.

As used by Thomas Hobbes in his treatises Leviathan and De Cive, natural law is "a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may best be preserved. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Leviathan or The Matter Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan, is a book written by Thomas De Cive (‘On the citizen’ is one of Thomas Hobbes ’ major works A Precept (from the Latin præcipere, to teach is a commandment instruction or order intended as an authoritative rule of action Reason involves the ability to think understand and draw Conclusions in an Abstract way as in Human thinking "

According to Hobbes, there are nineteen Laws. The first two are expounded in chapter XIV of Leviathan("of the first and second natural laws; and of contracts"); the others in chapter XV ("of other laws of nature").

• The first Law of nature is that every man ought to endeavour peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek and use all helps and advantages of war.
• The second Law of nature is that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth, as for peace, and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow other men against himself.
• The third Law is that men perform their covenants made. In this law of nature consisteth the fountain and original of justice. . . when a covenant is made, then to break it is unjust and the definition of injustice is no other than the not performance of covenant. And whatsoever is not unjust is just.
• The fourth Law is that a man which receiveth benefit from another of mere grace, endeavour that he which giveth it, have no reasonable cause to repent him of his good will. Breach of this law is called ingratitude.
• The fifth Law is complaisance: that every man strive to accommodate himself to the rest. The observers of this law may be called sociable; the contrary, stubborn, insociable, froward, intractable.
• The sixth Law is that upon caution of the future time, a man ought to pardon the offences past of them that repenting, desire it.
• The seventh Law is that in revenges, men look not at the greatness of the evil past, but the greatness of the good to follow.
• The eighth Law is that no man by deed, word, countenance, or gesture, declare hatred or contempt of another. The breach of which law is commonly called contumely.
• The ninth Law is that every man acknowledge another for his equal by nature. The breach of this precept is pride.
• The tenth law is that at the entrance into the conditions of peace, no man require to reserve to himself any right, which he is not content should be reserved to every one of the rest. The breach of this precept is arrogance, and observers of the precept are called modest.
• The eleventh law is that if a man be trusted to judge between man and man, that he deal equally between them.
• The twelfth law is that such things as cannot be divided, be enjoyed in common, if it can be; and if the quantity of the thing permit, without stint; otherwise proportionably to the number of them that have right.
• The thirteenth law is that those things which cannot be enjoyed in common, nor divided, ought to be adjudged to the first possessor; and in some cases to the first born, as acquired by lot.
• The fourteenth law is that all men that mediate peace be allowed safe conduct.
• The fifteenth law is that they that are at controversy submit their right to the judgment of an arbitrator.
• The sixteenth law is that no man is a fit arbitrator in his own cause.

Liberal natural law

Liberal natural law grew out of the medieval Christian natural law theories and out of Hobbes' revision of natural law, sometimes in an uneasy balance of the two. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation

Hugo Grotius based his philosophy of international law on natural law. Hugo Grotius or Huig de Groot, or Hugo de Groot; ( Delft, 10 April 1583 Rostock, 28 August 1645 In particular, his writings on freedom of the seas and just war theory directly appealed to natural law. This article is about the concept in International law and Admiralty law. Just War theory is a Doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin studied by moral Theologians Ethicists and international About natural law itself, he wrote that "even the will of an omnipotent being cannot change or abrogate" natural law, which "would maintain its objective validity even if we should assume the impossible, that there is no God or that he does not care for human affairs. Omnipotence ( Omni Potens: "all Power " is unlimited power God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. " (De iure belli ac pacis, Prolegomeni XI). This is the famous argument etiamsi daremus (non esse Deum), that made natural law no longer dependent on theology. In Logic, an argument is a Set of one or more Declarative sentences (or "propositions") known as the Premises along

John Locke incorporated natural law into many of his theories and philosophy, especially in Two Treatises of Government. John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. The Two Treatises of Government (or " Two Treatises of Government In the Former The False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer And His Followers are Detected There is considerable debate about whether his conception of natural law was more akin to that of Aquinas (filtered through Richard Hooker) or Hobbes' radical reinterpretation, though the effect of Locke's understanding is usually phrased in terms of a revision of Hobbes upon Hobbesean contractualist grounds. Richard Hooker (March 1554 – 3 November 1600) was an Anglican priest and an influential theologian. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order Locke turned Hobbes' prescription around, saying that if the ruler went against natural law and failed to protect "life, liberty, and property," people could justifiably overthrow the existing state and create a new one.

While Locke spoke in the language of natural law, the content of this law was by and large protective of natural rights, and it was this language that later liberal thinkers preferred. Thomas Jefferson, echoing Locke, appealed to unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Thomas Jefferson (April 13 1743 – July 4 1826 was the third President of the United States (1801–1809 the principal author of the Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776 announcing that the thirteen American colonies then "

The Belgian philosopher of law Frank van Dun is one among those who are elaborating a secular conception[1] of natural law in the liberal tradition. Frank Van Dun (born 1947 is a Belgian Law Philosopher and libertarian Natural law theorist

Contemporary Catholic understanding

The Roman Catholic Church holds the view of natural law set forth by Thomas Aquinas, particularly in his Summa Theologica, and often as filtered through the School of Salamanca. The Summa Theologica (or the Summa Theologiae or simply the Summa, written 1265 &ndash 1274) is the most famous The School of Salamanca is the Renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spanish theologians, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical This view is also shared by some Protestant churches. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation.

The Church understands human beings to consist of body and mind, the physical and the non-physical (or soul perhaps), and that the two are inextricably linked. The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living Humans are capable of discerning the difference between good and evil because they have a conscience. In Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy, the phrase good and evil refers to the location of objects desires and Behaviors on a two-way Evil, in many cultures is used to describe acts or thoughts which are contrary to some particular religion Conscience is a hypothesized Ability or faculty that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong There are many manifestations of the good that we can pursue. Some, like procreation, are common to other animals, while others, like the pursuit of truth, are inclinations peculiar to the capacities of human beings. Reproduction is the Biological process by which new individual Organisms are produced

To know what is right, one must use one's reason and apply it to Aquinas' precepts. This reason is believed to be embodied, in its most abstract form, in the concept of a primary precept: "Good is to be sought, evil avoided. "^[16] St. Thomas explains that:

there belongs to the natural law, first, certain most general precepts, that are known to all; and secondly, certain secondary and more detailed precepts, which are, as it were, conclusions following closely from first principles. As to those general principles, the natural law, in the abstract, can nowise be blotted out from men's hearts. But it is blotted out in the case of a particular action, insofar as reason is hindered from applying the general principle to a particular point of practice, on account of concupiscence or some other passion, as stated above (77, 2). But as to the other, i. e. , the secondary precepts, the natural law can be blotted out from the human heart, either by evil persuasions, just as in speculative matters errors occur in respect of necessary conclusions; or by vicious customs and corrupt habits, as among some men, theft, and even unnatural vices, as the Apostle states (Rm. i), were not esteemed sinful. ^[17]

However, while the primary and immediate precepts cannot be "blotted out", the secondary precepts can be. Therefore, for a deontological ethical theory they are open to a surprisingly large amount of interpretation and flexibility. Any rule that helps man to live up to the primary or subsidiary precepts can be a secondary precept, for example:

• Drunkenness is wrong because it injures one's health, and worse, destroys one's ability to reason, which is fundamental to man as a rational animal (i. e. does not support self preservation).
• Theft is wrong because it destroys social relations, and man is by nature a social animal (i. e. does not support the subsidiary precept of living in society).

Natural moral law is concerned with both exterior and interior acts, also known as action and motive. Simply doing the right thing is not enough; to be truly moral one's motive must be right as well. For example, helping an old lady across the road (good exterior act) to impress someone (bad interior act) is wrong. However, good intentions don’t always lead to good actions. The motive must coincide with Aquinas's cardinal or theological virtues. Cardinal virtues are acquired through reason applied to nature; they are:

1. Prudence
2. Justice
3. Temperance
4. Fortitude

His theological virtues are:

1. Faith
2. Hope
3. Charity

According to Aquinas, to lack any of these virtues is to lack the ability to make a moral choice. Prudence (latprudentia is classically considered to be a Virtue, and indeed one of the Cardinal Virtues. JUSTICE is a Human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. Gallantry redirects here Or see Gallant for other meanings Courage, also known as bravery, will, intrepidity The three Theological Virtues listed in the Bible are Faith ( - steadfastness in belief Hope ( - expectation of and desire Christianity, Faith, like in other Abrahamic faiths, centers on a belief in God, a belief in the reality of a transcendent domain Hope is one of the three Theological virtues in Christian tradition In Christian Theology charity, or love ( Agapē) means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others For example, consider a man who possesses the virtues of justice, prudence, and fortitude, yet lacks temperance. Due to his lack of self control and desire for pleasure, despite his good intentions, he will find himself swaying from the moral path.

In contemporary jurisprudence

In jurisprudence, natural law can refer to the several doctrines:

• That just laws are immanent in nature; that is, they can be "discovered" or "found" but not "created" by such things as a bill of rights;
• That they can emerge by the natural process of resolving conflicts, as embodied by the evolutionary process of the common law; or
• That the meaning of law is such that its content cannot be determined except by reference to moral principles. Jurisprudence is the Theory and Philosophy of Law. Scholars of jurisprudence or legal philosophers hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature JUSTICE is a Human rights and law reform organisation based in the United Kingdom. Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere "to remain within" refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of the divine as existing and acting within the mind A Bill of Rights is a list or summary of rights that are considered important and essential by a group of people These meanings can either oppose or complement each other, although they share the common trait that they rely on inherence as opposed to design in finding just laws.

Whereas legal positivism would say that a law can be unjust without it being any less a law, a natural law jurisprudence would say that there is something legally deficient about an unjust law. Legal positivism is a school of thought in Jurisprudence and the Philosophy of law. Legal interpretivism, famously defended in the English speaking world by Ronald Dworkin, claims to have a position different from both natural law and positivism. Interpretivism is a school of thought in contemporary Jurisprudence and the Philosophy of law. Ronald Dworkin, QC, FBA (born December 11, 1931) is an American Legal philosopher, currently professor of Jurisprudence

Besides utilitarianism and Kantianism, natural law jurisprudence has in common with virtue ethics that it is a live option for a first principles ethics theory in analytic philosophy. Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall Utility, that is its contribution to happiness Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Germany (now Kaliningrad, Russia Virtue theory is a branch of Moral philosophy that emphasizes character rather than rules or consequences as the key element of ethical thinking First Principles is also the title of a work by Herbert Spencer. Analytic philosophy (sometimes analytical philosophy) is a generic term for a style of Philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century

The concept of natural law was very important in the development of the English common law. Common law refers to law and the corresponding legal system developed through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive In the struggles between Parliament and the monarch, Parliament often made reference to the Fundamental Laws of England which were at times said to embody natural law principles since time immemorial and set limits on the power of the monarchy. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories TalkCommonewalth realm.--> The monarchy In the 1760s William Blackstone described the Fundamental Laws of England in Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book the First - Chapter the First: Of the Time immemorial is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of Memory, record or Tradition. According to William Blackstone, however, natural law might be useful in determining the content of the common law and in deciding cases of equity, but was not itself identical with the laws of England. Sir William Blackstone (originally pronounced Blexstun ( 10 July 1723 &ndash 14 February 1780) was an English Jurist and Equity is the name given to the set of legal principles in jurisdictions following the English common law tradition which supplement strict rules of law where Nonetheless, the implication of natural law in the common law tradition has meant that the great opponents of natural law and advocates of legal positivism, like Jeremy Bentham have also been staunch critics of the common law. Legal positivism is a school of thought in Jurisprudence and the Philosophy of law. Jeremy Bentham ( IPA: or) (15 February 1748&ndash6 June 1832 was an English Jurist, Philosopher, and legal and Social reformer

Natural law jurisprudence is currently undergoing a period of reformulation (as is legal positivism). The most prominent contemporary natural law jurist, Australian John Finnis, is based in Oxford, but there are also Americans Germain Grisez, Robert P. George, and Canadian Joseph Boyle. John Finnis (born 1940 is an Australian philosopher specializing in the Philosophy of law. Germain Gabriel Grisez (born 1929 is a prominent and influential Catholic moral Theologian. Robert P George (born 1955 is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, where he lectures on Constitutional interpretation, Civil liberties All have tried to construct a new version of natural law. The 19th-century anarchist and legal theorist, Lysander Spooner, was also a figure in the expression of modern natural law. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i

"New Natural Law" as it is sometimes called, originated with Grisez. It focuses on "basic human goods," such as human life, knowledge, and aesthetic experience, which are self-evidently and intrinsically worthwhile, and states that these goods reveal themselves as being incommensurable with one another. In Epistemology (theory of knowledge a self-evident proposition is one that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof. In Ethics, two values (or norms, reasons, or goods) are incommensurable when they do not share a common standard of measurement

See also

• Aristotle
• John Locke
• Legal positivism
• Natural justice
• Natural rights
• Naturalistic fallacy
• School of Salamanca
• Stoicism
• Substantive due process
• Thomas Aquinas
• Thomas Hobbes
• Jean Barbeyrac
• Richard Cumberland
• Unenumerated rights

References

Further reading

• Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by H. Rackham. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by J. A. K. Thomson (revised by Hugh Trennedick). New York: Penguin.
• Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Joe Sachs. Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing.
• Aristotle. Rhetoric.
• Aristotle. Politics.
• Barzilai, Gad. 2007. Law and Religion. International Library of Essays on Law and Society. Ashgate.
• Blackstone, William. 1765–9. Commentaries on the Laws of England.
• Burns, Tony. 2000. "Aquinas's Two Doctrines of Natural Law. " Political Studies 48. Pp. 929–946.
• Finnis, John. 1980. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Jaffa, Harry V. 1952. Thomism and Aristotelianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Kainz, Howard P. 2004. Natural Law: an Introduction and Re-examination. Open Court. ISBN 0-8126-9454-6.
• "Natural Law. " International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. New York, 1968.
• Robinson, Dave & Groves, Judy. 2003. Introducing Political Philosophy. Icon Books. ISBN 1-84046-450-X.
• Raoul Muhm: Germania: La rinascita del diritto naturale e i crimini contro l´umanità. Deutschland: Die Renaissance des Naturrechts und die Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. Germany: The renaissance of natural law and crimes against humanity. Vecchiarelli Editore Manziana (Roma) 2004 ISBN 88-8247-153-5
• Shellens, Max Salomon. 1959. "Aristotle on Natural Law. " Natural Law Forum 4, no. 1. Pp. 72–100.

External links

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
  • The Natural Law Tradition in Ethics, by Mark Murphy, 2002. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP is a freely-accessible Online encyclopedia of Philosophy maintained by Stanford University.
  • Aquinas' Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy, by John Finnis, 2005. John Finnis (born 1940 is an Australian philosopher specializing in the Philosophy of law.
  • Natural Law Theories, by John Finnis, 2007.
• Natural Law explained, evaluated and applied A clear introduction to Natural Law
• Catholic Encyclopedia "Natural Law"
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Entry 'Natural Law' by Kenneth Einar Himma
• Daniel Z. Epstein "Law's 'I'" 2007.
• McElroy, Wendy The Non-Absurdity of Natural Law, The Freeman, February 1998, Vol. Wendy McElroy (born 1951 is a Canadian Individualist anarchist and Individualist feminist. The Freeman is a monthly journal it is the principal publication of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE located in Irvington-on-Hudson New York 48, No. 2, pp. 108-111

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