Natural Law
Natural law, or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis), is a system of law that is purportedly determined by nature, and thus universal. Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature—both social and personal—and deduce binding rules of moral behavior. Natural law is contrasted with the positive law (meaning "man-made law", not "good law"; cf. posit) of a given political community, society, or nation-state, and thus serves as a standard by which to criticize said positive law. According to natural law theory, which holds that morality is a function of human nature and reason can discover valid moral principles by looking at the nature of humanity in society, the content of positive law cannot be known without some reference to natural law. Used in this way, natural law can be invoked 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)
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Some articles on natural law:
... Judges don’t rely on natural law, but rather legal positivism combined with general principles of law ... Other principles are equity and fairness, general principles of law, etc ...
... This law-related article does not cite its references or sources ... which can be found through legal research 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 ... they rely on inherence as opposed to design in finding just laws ...
... into the preamble to the 1899 Hague Convention II – Laws and Customs of War on Land ... Until a more complete code of the laws of war is issued, the High Contracting Parties think it right to declare that in cases not included in the Regulations ... — Convention with respect to the laws of war on land (Hague II), 29 July 1899 ...
... philosophy and believe that Nature is governed by laws which are immutable, that is, they are "unchanging, unbending and unyielding." They theorize that one of the ... we look at the species of mice or rabbits or cats in their natural habitat, they claim, we find that they have been segregated into dozens of different species, each ... of mating, of propagation." Each has its natural enemies ...
... naturalism is a minor political ideology and legal system which believes that there is a natural law, just and obvious to all, that crosses ideologies, faiths and personal thinking ... naturalism's believe that the precision of natural sciences can be applied to social sciences, and hence to practical social activities like politics and law ... It may be seen as a natural law-based version of legalism/constitutionalism (especially of prescriptive constitutionalism, in the way it tries, idealistically, to make a constitution how it should justly be ...
Famous quotes containing the words law and/or natural:
“There ought to be a law against necessity.”
—E.Y. Harburg (1898–1981)
“Natural knowledge, seeking to satisfy natural wants, has found the ideas which can alone still spiritual cravings. I say that natural knowledge, in desiring to ascertain the laws of comfort, has been driven to discover those of conduct, and to lay the foundations of a new morality.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)