12-01-2006, 11:57 AM
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#22 (permalink)
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| Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 9
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Quote: Natural law (Latin jus naturale) is law that exists independently of the positive law of a given political order, society or nation-state. It is simultaneously a legal philosophy or perspective, and a genre of law - depending on the jurisdiction in which the term is used. The theory of natural law was introduced by Aristotle before being further developed within a Christian context by St Thomas Aquinas.
As a genre, natural law is the law of nature—that is, the principle that some things are as they are, because that is how they are. This use is especially valid in Scotland, where "natural law" operates as a genre of law parallel to both civil and criminal law, and its discussion is not limited to human beings.
As a philosophical perspective, especially in the English and American legal traditions, the principles of natural law are expressed, obliquely or openly, in such documents as Magna Carta and the United States Declaration of Independence, when rights are discussed, explicitly or implicitly, as being inherent. For example, the expression "...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..." expresses such a right that is discussed as being inherent. The words that immediately precede that expression: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, ..." express a natural law philosophy.
- Wikipedia.com ( Natural law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
| "Christian context" - I think that's why someone could say it goes against natural law.
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The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.
William Shakespeare, "As You Like It", Act 5 scene 1
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616) |
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