Definition
Natural law refers to the view that some laws apply to everyone by virtue of existing and from these laws natural rights emerge.
Discussion
Overview
Proponents of natural law argue:
- there are certain qualities of being a human which exist prior to any human-made laws,
- respecting those qualities in oneself and others universally facilitates an indvidual’s interests, and therefore
- humans should act in accordance with natural law.
Natural law differs from customary law due to its inherent nature in governing human action. It does not rely on human action to exist.
It, too, differs from positive law. Natural law exists regardless of any human reasoning. Our reasoning helps us uncover or identify natural law, not create it.
Context
For much of history, most cultures around the world considered the law governing humans as deriving from the devine, that is, coming from the gods.
Natural law, or ius naturale, is a concept which, in the western world, is often attributed theological scholars in Europe beginning in the 1100s.
A notable figure among those scholars is Gratian, a lawyer who recorded the increasing divisions between the human-made law by governments and church-made law under theological scripture.
In the mid-1200s the philosopher Thomas Aquinas explored the relationship between human law and theological law. Aquinas argued that human law is separate to god-made law but through god-made law humans have reason and will to make their own laws.
Natural law and Live and Let Live
Because reasonable people accept that any peaceful person should be left to control their own body, self-ownership is arguably a product of natural law.
While one not subscribe to the theory of natural law to live and let live, the above perspective means the Legal Principle is, in fact, consistent with natural law.
Clarification
Natural law is not to be confused with the “laws of nature”, which refers to the sciences and phenomena outside of the influence of human reasoning, including natural history.
Further Resources
- Gratian, Decretum Gratiani
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae