GROUP 3-NATURAL LAW
Kind of legal – moral obligation is defeated by a posited
Natural Law
- A theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human
beings possess intrinsic values that govern their reasoning
and behavior.
- Historically, natural law refers to the use of reason to
analyze both social and personal human nature to deduce
binding rules of moral behavior.
- Natural law maintains that these rules of right and wrong
are inherent in people and are not created by society or court
judges.
- Natural law holds that there are universal moral standards
that are inherent in humankind throughout all time, and
these standards should form the basis of a just society.
- Human beings are not taught natural law per se. Instead, we
“discover” it by consistently making choices for good
instead of evil. Some schools of thought believe that natural
law is passed to humans via a divine presence.
Characteristics of Natural Law
 Natural law is universal. It applies to the entire human race
and is, in itself, the same for all.
 Natural law is immutable in itself and also extrinsically. It
follows that, assuming existence of human nature, it cannot
cease to exist.
Contents of Natural Law
 Consists of one supreme and universal principle, from which
are derived all our natural moral obligations or duties.
I. Law establishes reasons for action
II. Legal rules can and presumptively do create moral
obligations that did not as such exist prior to the posting
of the rules
III.
rule’s serious immorality (injustice)
Trends of Natural Law
Two important trends in Natural Law:
 1st Trend
 Where an appeal has been made to Natural Law to
justify and rationalize the existing order. In this
category, Natural Law has been playing a
conservative role/order. It has a conservative role in
the society.
 2nd Trend
 Appeals at different periods have been made to fight
against the existing order. People have seen the
existing order being oppressive; therefore, natural
law is used to effect changes in society.
History of Natural Law
Natural Law in Early Greek Societies
- Natural law is located from the early Greeks. There was no
distinction between religion and law. In the Greek times all
laws were received from the God. Priest had every important
role in the society.
Natural Law in Philosophy and Religion
Antigone by Sophocles
- Antigone is a play that was written by an ancient Greek
playwright called Sophocles in 441 BCE
 The play is about Antigone's disobedience of King
Creon's rules when she insists on burying her
brother, Polyneices. Even though King Creon
ordered that the body be left unburied.
- Sophocles’ play Antigone seems to confirm the superiority
of natural law over positive (man-made) law.
 - Points that human nature and human reason are the ground - A good action is one which was achieved by fulfilling the
of ethical duties which have to be recognized wherever purpose for which it was designed
human beings gather in community.
How to apply Natural Law:
- According to Peter Mullen, reason and the regularities of the
Aristotle (384 BCE – 322 BCE) natural world should be your guide.
- considered by many to be the founder of natural law. - Four Cardinal Virtues:
- He argued that what is “just by nature” is not always the  Prudence
same as what is “just by law.”  Justice
- Aristotle believed that there is a natural justice that is valid  Fortitude
everywhere with the same force. This natural justice is  Temperance
positive and does not depend on the decisions or laws of any Opposite of the Cardinal Virtues – The Seven Deadly Sins
one group of people.  Pride
 Avarice
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 CE – 1274 CE)  Lust
- For St. Thomas Aquinas, natural law and religion were  Envy
inextricably connected. He believed that natural law  Gluttony
"participates" in the divine "eternal" law.  Anger
- Aquinas thought eternal law to be that rational plan by  Sloth
which all creation is ordered, and natural law is the way that
human beings participate in the eternal law. He further Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
posited that the fundamental principle of natural law is that - argued that humanity is in danger of being destroyed by
we should do good and avoid evil. seven "sins," often called the seven social sins: wealth
without work, politics without principle, pleasure without
 Efficient Cause – the agent that brings something about. conscience, commerce (or business) without morality (or
Ex. Being sexually Attractive ethics), knowledge without character, science without
 Final Cause – the final aim or purpose of something humanity, and religion without sacrifice. In each of these
Ex. Procreation of children cases, the solution to the sin (work, principle, conscience,
 A bad action is one in which the natural cause or purpose is morality, character, humanity, and sacrifice) is an external
not. standard derived from natural law.

Absolute Morally Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)

- Natural Law must be followed without question whatever - argued that people have an obligation to obey natural laws
the circumstances or the situation over unjust positive laws that conflict with them, writing
- A human must work out (rationalize) if an action fulfils it’s that "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to
purpose in nature obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility
 to disobey unjust laws... To put it in the terms of St. Thomas
Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in
eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human
personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality
is unjust."
Sophists and Natural Law
- They made a fundamental distinction between what is right
and just according to positive law basing on the social
institutions of Athens and Nature
- They clamored for certain fundamental and absolute rights
which are common to all men and, hence, which must be
enjoyed by all men.
- They pointed out that in many instances the laws or legal
institutions of the state primarily are used as means to
promote the political power, interests and aspirations of the
ruling class or the people in power.
Protagoras
- Concept of justice may be determined by time, place, and
particular circumstance and thus be relative, especially since
finite man does not always and everywhere know the
absolute or objective meaning of right and justice.
- Whatever appears to the state to be just and equitable is just
and equitable to it as long as it can be recognized as such.
- Certain immutable moral principles are innate in man. But
on account of man’s limited understanding and insight, he
does not always properly apply these innate moral or legal
principles.
Thrasymachus
- The ruling class becomes the ultimate criterion of what
constitutes justice both in a moral and legal sense. Justice is
the interest of the Stronger.
- Any person acting against the interest of the ruling class, that
is, against the stronger, acts unjustly and, will be punished
as a criminal.
- People indeed talk a great deal about justice, but they do
nothing about realizing justice.
Callicles
- Puts great emphasis on the distinction between justice
according to positive law and justice according to natural
law and nature.
- He insists that justice according to nature is the only
acceptable form of justice.
- People in power always attempted to protect and promote
their particular class interests and class prejudices in the
name of law.
- The qualifications of those who are in power are the ultimate
foundation and justification of law and justice.
Hippias
- All men are fellow citizens of one single universal
community - mankind
- They are all free and all equal. God has created all men free;
nature has made no slaves.
- The rule of a master over slaves is a contrary to nature, and
that the distinction between slave and freeman exists only by
positive law, but not by nature.
Anti – Sophists and the Natural Law
Plato
- Opined that God gave to all men an equal sense of justice
and of ethical reverence so that they can preserve themselves
in the struggle of life. He believed that the justice is a
harmony of man’s inner life and it can be achieved by reason
 and wisdom of man. In his ideal state each individual is
given a particular role according to his capacity.
- He assumed the inequality of men in the society and he was
relying on human reason.
- He said that society should be divided into classes that
should protect its inherent qualities.
 Men of Gold
- These must be the rulers, not the foolish
men; people like philosophers. Man is
dominated by reason and not therefore the
one who can reason is supposed to rule in
order to administer justice according to their
reason and his own wisdom.
 Men of Copper
- Guardian of the state. They are meant to
protect the state and defend the social
organism.
 Base Metals
- They had a duty of feeding themselves and
to feed others.
Aristotle
- He divides the life of man into two parts:
 A creature of God
 Endowed with reason as distinct from all other
creatures
- He said Man can control nature. Man can live according to
reason. Living according to reason is living naturally.
Stoics and Natural Law
- Stoics was inspired by the principles of Plato’s theory of
natural law and developed his own theory.
- He says that the entire universe is governed by reason. Man
is a part of the universe that is also governed by reason. It is
the reason of man which leads him to live according to the
nature.
Natural Law in Middle Ages
- Natural Law was capitalized by the church fathers.
- Church fathers articulated that mankind is ruled by two laws:
Natural Law and Custom.
- They said that divine character natural law is absolutely
being and it is superior to other rules of law. It came into
existence withy a very creation of man and it does not vary
in time but it remains unchangeable.
St. Augustine (354 AD – 430 AD)
- A classical representative of early church doctrine of law.
Wrote a book called City God
- Social institutions of man are sinful including the state. Man
could only justify its institutions by creating those
corresponding to the likeness of God.
- There must be correspondence to the likeness of the City of
God.
- Richard J. Dougherty interpreted Augustine’s contribution to
Natural Law
 Natural Law serves to orient humans towards their
ultimate end, providing a standard for judging
human institutions to be properly or improperly
ordered.
St. Thomas Aquinas (13th Century)
- Divided Law into four categories:
 Eternal Law
 Natural Law
 Divine Law
 Human Laws
- According to him eternal law as unchangeable law, natural
law was that part of eternal law which can be revealed by
reason as he stated that man is a rational animal and he can
decide what is good by reflecting his own impulses and
nature. Divine law is eternal law revealed through scriptures
and the church has the authority to interpret it. Human laws
 are the laws made by the state with the purpose of safety and
wellbeing of the men. However, these laws must be in
conformity with the natural laws.
- If the human law is contradictory with natural law then it is
unjust law as he gave the phrase “Lex iniusta non est lex” an
unjust law is not a law, and such unjust laws need not to be
followed.
Natural Law in the 17th – 18th Century
- There was a separation of Law from Theology
Hugo Grotius
- A Dutch jurist and a Father of International law
- States that natural law is so immutable even it cannot be
changed by God that means natural law is independent from
every divine force and it would exist if there were no God.
- Natural law depends upon the nature of the man and he
called human nature as the grandmother, natural law the
parent and positive law the child.
- Man’s desire is essentially to live in society peacefully in
line with his intellect and reason
Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694)
- German Law Professor and a Land owner
- Pufendorf examined natural law as applied to individuals
and political communities.
- For Pufendorf, however, the source of natural law is found in
the human need for “sociability”; natural law is a moral law
inscribed in human beings by nature and knowable through
natural reason. It prescribes obligations and concomitant
rights, and it is the standard for all positive and civil law.
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
- Hobbes defined natural law as the law of nature based on
observation and appreciation of human nature, rather than
specific ethical standards. The right to self-preservation, he
believed, was the most important principle of natural law. In
his natural state, man lived in a state of chaos, ruled by fear
and selfishness.
- Man was living in the state of nature.
- Law of nature is the foundation of justice.
Spinoza (1632-1677)
- Advocated that a sovereign is restrained by natural law.
John Locke (1632 – 1704)
- In contrast to Hobbes' state of nature, John Locke's state of
nature was one of peace, kindness, mutual assistance, and
preservation.
- Individuals have more power than the sovereign under
natural law. Individuals' natural rights, according to him, are
inalienable, with the right to property being the most
important.
- The powers of the government are limited to the terms of
social contract.
Montesquieu (1689-1755)
- Advocated that liberty is the highest goal which a nation
must achieve.
Rousseau (1712)
- Stated that Law is an expression of the general will of the
community.
- According to Rousseau social contract is the hypothetical
construction of reason. In his state of nature every individual
a free life of a savage. He neither knew right nor wrong and
there was no private property, no jealousy and no
competition. There was innocence everywhere. However,
this state of affairs did not last long. In due course of time
people started to think about their possessions and the
differences between the rich and poor came into picture
which became the reason of inequality.
 - The general will of the society and the sovereign power was
bound to do that which was in common good of the society.
Decline of Natural Law Theory
- In 18th century the social contract theory saw its decline.
The economic and political transformations that had
occurred in Europe reflected natural law philosophy. These
new developments and changes necessitated real and
political remedies. The phenomenal rise of natural science
and new political ideologies strengthened empirical methods
while rejecting logical approaches. Many historians and
philosophers argued that natural theory was nothing more
than a myth.
- Hume showed that the reason understood in the system of
natural law was based on confusion. And neither values nor
justice are inherent in nature.
- Bentham natural law is nothing but a phrase. He criticized
natural law and called it “simple and rhetorical nonsense”.
His view regarding the principle of equality was negative as
he said that “Absolute inequality is absolutely
impossible” and absolute liberty is directly repugnant in any
kind of government.
- Austin was also against natural law theory and according to
him it was ambiguous and misleading. He says that all the
natural rights of the individuals were created and regulated
by the state and the state did not originate in a social
contract.
Revival of Natural Law in 19th Century
- Theories of positive law completely failed to solve new
problems created by the changed social conditions which
resulted natural law theory was revived. The emergence of
ideologies such as Fascism and Marxism also led to the
revival of natural law theories.
- This revived natural law is relative not abstract and
unchangeable and concerned with practical problems not
abstract ideas. This new theory of natural law deals with
various human ideals. Therefore, it is called “natural law
with variable content”.
Rudolf Stammler (1856-1938)
- A German Professor of Law, Father of Contemporary
Natural Law and a follower of Kant.
- Law should be sovereign without interference and inviolable
because a body of norms characterized by their inviolability.
- Justice should create harmony in the society.
- Law is not to protect the will of one, but to unify the purpose
of all.
Gustav Rad Bruch (1878 – 1949)
- German Professor of Law
- Realization of Justice is the ultimate goal of Law. There
must be a stable legal order to realize justice.
- A law must require some recognition by the state and
complete denial of individual freedom is absolutely false
law.
Lon L. Fuller
- There is a basic orderliness in all things which is natural one.
- People must obey the law made by the state.
- Internal morality of law deals with the procedural aspect of
law.
Contemporary Natural Law
 Rest on moral idealist but it is always coached in terms of
internal variety; there is a moral aspect
 Based on Law with a changing content so that it does not
rest on the principle of immutability.
 Justice is emphasized in Contemporary Law
Appraisal of Natural Law
 Natural law theory reveals that the concept has been used to
support different ideologies from time to time. It has been
used to support absolutism, individualism and has even been
used by revolutionists to overthrow the government.
 The natural law principles of justice, morality, and
conscience have been embodied in the various legal systems.
 Natural Law being regulated by the law of nature is
inevitable and obligatory whereas man made positive laws
are arbitrary and contingent.
 Natural Law is not variable since it emanates from ‘human
reasoning’, which is known for its uniformity and general
acceptance.
Natural Law in Economics
- Early economists of the medieval period, including Thomas
Aquinas and the Scholastic monks of the School of
Salamanca, heavily emphasized natural law as an aspect of
economics in their theories of the just price of an economic
good.
John Locke
- based his theories related to economics on a version of
natural law, arguing that people have a natural right to claim
unowned resources and land as private property, thereby
transforming them into economic goods by mixing them
with their labor.
 Natural law is an ethical theory that claims that humans are
born with a certain moral compass that guides behaviors.
These inherited rules essentially distinguish the "rights" and
"wrongs" in life. Under natural law, everyone is afforded
the same rights, such as the right to live and the right to
happiness.
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