Natural Law - Online lession
Natural Law
In this lesson we will begin our discussion on the
natural law theory now at the very outset there are three fundamental jurists
or academics who are similarly importance to natural law namely Aristotle, Socrates and Plato.
First and foremost we need to understand the
thinking behind Natural law. Now this could be considered as one of the fundamental
or the inception points of proper legal jurisprudence as such the thinking
behind natural log be it in terms of Socrates Plato Aristotle was basically
that there
is a connection which exists between law and morals and that law must be both
just and fair.
Now what this meant in turn was that natural law
theorists or juries believed that because laws or because jurisprudence were
supposed to be encapsulated in morals and because if it's supposed to be just
in fair man-made law must conform to a higher principle of right conduct which
is discoverable through reason. Now later on when we discuss natural law you'll
understand how this at one point got shifted into a very religious aspect,
because we consider these higher principles evidently. Because of this you
could see that the concept varies from person to person time to time and more
importantly place to place as well natural law theory developed over time and
we can consider or discuss this concept of jurisprudence under four seminal or
four primary limbs.
Firstly the Classical period the Middle Ages the Renaissance
and the modern period so let's look at each individual period of time
separately.
Firstly the Classical period was dominated by the
ancient Greeks and the Romans Socrates for instance had considered Natural law theory or jurisprudence as
having being a product of correct reasoning. You could see this being
expanded on by Aristotle who considered that it's a universal and immutable standard discoverable through reason and
man-made law should conform to these higher standard. You notice that it's
at this point that you will see a tangent and a shift taking place as you move forward
Plato considered something similar and noted that the ultimate justice is discoverable through reason.
The Middle Ages saw a marked difference or a decline
in the study of the Greeks and Romans and more emphasis being placed on religion
and faith. To juries or to academics that could be considered as outlining the
Middle Ages is St. Augustine and St.Thomas Aquinas in D Civitas de st.
Augustine noted “what are states without justice by trouble hands enlarged”. In
essence we see in the Middle Ages, this concept of reasoning of morality of
just and fairness which was considered through the period of the Greeks and
Romans by Aristotle by Plato and Socrates shifting more towards a hierarchy
which was religious in nature. So in st. Augustine's de Civitas day you note
that he considers religion as being paramount to that of reason this doesn't mean
that reason to get back seat on the contrary, it creates a situation where religion
is said to be the reason or the higher power. St. Thomas Aquinas on the other
hand considered that unjust laws deserved no obedience, he
noted that man can find natural law by applying reason and studying scriptures of
revelations of God. Now what must be considered at this point of
jurisprudential thinking is that time had moved on to a point where religion
played a major part of not just laws but also society at large. In essence
people believed in religious aspects or scriptures as being gospel as well as
the higher form that you must aspire to the contribution. In that sense is that
what Thomas Aquinas managed to do was rather than looking at it holistically or
solely in the context of religion he tried to harmonize the teachings of the
Greek philosophers before him with the beliefs of the Catholic Church. It was
in essence a balance so to speak this balancing of interests later on in
sociological school of jurisprudence we see in so many other aspects in the
future as well according to st. Thomas Aquinas law can be considered in four
seminal aspects:
Firstly eternal law or Lex eternal this is an
aspect of law which is only known to God. Secondly you have divine law or Lex
de vino' this is a part of eternal law or law that is known only to God but
reveal to men by God through Holy Scriptures what sin Thomas Aquinas believed
was that the highest form of law was that of legs eternal and what could be
understood and manifested by man was revealed to man by God through scriptures.
Thirdly you have actual natural law or Lex Natura this is part of divine law
which is the law revealed to man by God and understood by men through reason
and finally you have human law or Lex Humana this is primarily and
intrinsically law derived directly or solely by man. Now st. Thomas Aquinas
considered that man-made law on its own is quite unjust why on the one hand it
furthered the interests of the lawgiver only because he believed that it was
biased to the person who created it moreover he felt that exceeding of power by
the lawgiver could occur as well as burden some on the people that had governed
now it must be noted that modern constitutionalism has been heavily influenced
by sin Thomas Aquinas even to this day.
the
Renaissance period saw the revival of the Greek and Roman thinking so instead
of relying on the scriptures during Middle Ages they started looking at the human
element itself the purpose in itself the theory of social contract is seen has been
given birth at this point by academic surgery such as Rousseau Hobbes and Locke.
The whole notion of natural law which we were looking at up until this point
slowly shifted towards the aspect of natural rights this can be seen as a
forerunner towards fundamental rights or human rights this in essence brings us
to the modern period or that which we see in the 19th century fortunately or
unfortunately the whole premise and the concepts of natural law seen originally
from the Greeks and Romans to the Middle Ages by st.Augustine and Aquinas did
that of the Renaissance period where the Greek and Roman thinking started to
proliferate and come back or revived itself by way of Rousseau Hobbes and Locke
saw decline primarily due to a scientific knowledge, which was now more
prevalent as well as different people using natural law for different ends and
this. In essence being considered by F Ross, for instance as being like a
harlot natural law being at the disposal of many for their own personal gain
the emergence of positivist was another reason and positive is in turn an
aspect, which we will look at later on in another lesson. believed that the
role of the Juris was also to analyze the law and not exactly how it ought to
be. However following World War two for instance, natural law again gathered
some acceptance because of the atrocities that happen during that time by Nazi rule
you could see a real world shift in thinking with the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights for instance.
There have been a number of contributions to jurisprudential
thought by way of natural law:
+ first and foremost it has played an important
role in establishing moral concepts such as partisan samanda or
+ for instance agreements are to be honored. it
has inspired the formation of democratic constitutions in the modern world such
as that of the US and France for instance and
+ aspects of fundamental or human rights have been
encapsulated especially following the Nazi regime as well as the atrocities of
World War two principles of equity have been developed through that of natural
law things which are strict or laws which are strict in the essence of common
law have been shifted quite primarily in equity by virtue of natural law
precepts for instance the Lord Chancellor in the UK at one point of time
intervened to reduce these harshness development of natural justice or for
instance concepts such as audience rampart in and name originates in causa
these aspects have primarily come into the forefront of jurisprudential thought
and legal systems.
in essence because of natural law thinking and the
juries that propounded it that was a quick outline of natural law or the school
of natural law thinking in the next lesson we will begin our discussion on the
seminal and fundamental aspects of positivism thanks a lot for watching this
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