 Natural law school

Natural school of law is generally regarded as the law of nature, divine law or
the law that is universal and eternal in nature. It has been given different
meanings at different points of time and though it is created by man, it is found
through the nature of an individual. It is mostly influenced by religion. The
central idea of this theory is that there is a higher law based on morality against
which the validity of human law can be measured. There is a belief that there
are certain moral laws that cannot go against without losing its moral or legal
character. If legislation is not moral it is not law. There is an essential
connection between law and morality in this school of law. Natural law is a theory
in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic values that govern their
reasoning and 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, but rather 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.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 The theory of natural law says that humans possess an intrinsic sense of right and
wrong that governs our reasoning and behavior.

 The concepts of natural law are ancient, stemming from the times of Plato and Aristotle.

 Natural law is constant throughout time and across the globe because it is based on
human nature, not on culture or customs.

 This is opposed to theories that laws are socially constructed and created by people.

 Examples of natural laws exist in several fields from philosophy to economics

 Legal positivism
Legal positivism is a philosophy of law that emphasizes the conventional nature of law—
that it is socially constructed. According to legal positivism, law is synonymous with
positive norms, that is, norms made by the legislator or considered as common law or
case law. Formal criteria of law’s origin, law enforcement and legal effectiveness are all
sufficient for social norms to be considered law.  Legal positivism does not base law on
divine commandments, reason, or human rights.  As an historical matter, positivism

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arose in opposition to classical natural law theory, according to which there are necessary
moral constraints on the content of law.
Legal positivism does not imply an ethical justification for the content of the law, nor a
decision for or against the obedience to law. Positivists do not judge laws by questions of
justice or humanity, but merely by the ways in which the laws have been created. This
includes the view that judges make new law in deciding cases not falling clearly under a
legal rule. Practicing, deciding or tolerating certain practices of law can each be
considered a way of creating law. Within legal doctrine, legal positivism would be
opposed to sociological jurisprudence a Legal positivism is the legal philosophy which
argues that any and all laws are nothing more and nothing less than simply the
expression of the will of whatever authority created them. Thus, no laws can be regarded
as expressions of higher morality or higher principles to which people can appeal when
they disagree with the laws. It is a view that law is a social construction. The creation of
laws is simply an exercise in brute force and an expression of power, not an attempt to
realize any loftier moral or social goals. Therefore, from a positivist perspective, it can be
said that “legal rules or laws are valid not because they are rooted in moral or natural
law, but because they are enacted by legitimate authority and are accepted by the society
as such”nd hermeneutics of law, which study the concrete prevailing circumstances of
statutory interpretation in society. The word “positivism” was probably first used to
draw attention to the idea that law is “positive” or “posited,” as opposed to being
“natural” in the sense of being derived from natural law or morality

 Legal Realism
Legal realism is a naturalistic approach to law. It is the view that jurisprudence should emulate the
methods of natural science, i.e., rely on empirical evidence. Hypotheses must be tested against
observations of the world.
Legal realists believe that legal science should only investigate law with the value-free methods of
natural sciences, rather than through philosophical inquiries into the nature and meaning of the law
that are separate and distinct from the law as it is actually practiced. Indeed, legal realism asserts
that the law cannot be separated from its application, nor can it be understood outside of its
application. As such, legal realism emphasizes law as it actually exists, rather than the law as it
ought to be. Locating the meaning of law in areas like legal opinions issued by judges and their
deference or dismissal of the past precedent and the doctrine of stare decisis, it stresses the
importance of understanding the factors involved in judicial decision making.

skeptism
the attitude of doubting knowledge claims set forth in various areas. Skeptics have
challenged the adequacy or reliability of these claims by asking what principles they are
based upon or what they actually establish.

Being skeptical helps encourage us to hit pause on just believing in something because
we hear or see it. Rather, pursuing knowledge through systematic doubt. It's a key part
of critical thinking.

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Skepticism isn't necessarily bad as it helps you develop an attitude of doubt that makes
you question what's going on. Healthy skepticism is when you're not doubting
something just for the sake of it and you are questioning things to discover a truth that
will help you arrive at a logical decision.

Skepticism in law is a school of jurisprudence that was a reaction against the idea of natural law,
and a response to the 'formalism' of legal positivists. Legal skepticism is sometimes known as legal
realism.[4]
According to Richard Posner, "The skeptical vein in American thinking about law runs from Holmes
to the legal realists to the critical legal studies movement, while behind Holmes stretches a
European skeptical legal tradition that runs from Thrasymachus (in Plato's Republic) to Hobbes and
Bentham and beyond
What is Rule skepticism and fact skepticism?

Rule sceptics believe that the legal uncertainty in decision-making is due to the
contradictory nature of rules and the existence of rules that give wide scope for
interpretation. Fact sceptics believe that the unpredictability of court decisions lies
primarily in the elusiveness of facts, One argument came to be called "fact skepticism".
Roughly, this is an argument that advances doubt about whether and to what extent
judges are constrained in the process of identifying ("finding") the facts that are material
to the resolution of disputes in substantive law.

 The stoics
Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means
of overcoming destructive emotions; the philosophy holds that becoming a
clear and unbiased thinker allows one to understand the universal reason

The Stoics elaborated a detailed taxonomy of virtue, dividing virtue into four main
types: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation.

Stoic Principles
Today, Stoic principles have found their way into accepted popular wisdom, as
goals to which we should aspire—as in the Serenity Prayer of Twelve Step
addiction programs.

Below are eight of the main ethical notions held by the Stoic philosophers.

 Nature: Nature is rational.

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  Law of Reason: The universe is governed by the law of reason. Humans
can't actually escape its inexorable force, but they can, uniquely, follow the
law deliberately.
 Virtue: A life led according to rational nature is virtuous.
 Wisdom: Wisdom is the the root virtue. From it spring the cardinal
virtues: insight, bravery, self-control, and justice.
 Apathea: Since passion is irrational, life should be waged as a battle
against it. Intense feeling should be avoided.
 Pleasure: Pleasure is neither good nor bad. It is only acceptable if it
doesn't interfere with the quest for virtue.
 Evil: Poverty, illness, and death are not evil.
 Duty: Virtue should be sought, not for the sake of pleasure, but for duty

Stoicism is a school of philosophy that hails from ancient Greece and Rome in the early
parts of the 3rd century, BC.

It's important to keep in mind how differently people thought then.

People's primary concern was to avoid living an unfortunate life. Therefore, they were
more likely to order their thoughts, decisions, and behaviors to promote increased life
satisfaction. One of the most important things to keep in mind is individuals didn’t
automatically assume that they would achieve happiness by attaining money, prestige,
and or beautiful things. With great urgency, people wanted to understand how they
could have an excellent soul.

Stoicism was one of the famous schools of thought during this period because the
Stoics provided compelling answers to anxiety, stress, fear, and troubling questions like
“What do I want out of life?” The Stoics offered an operating system that dealt with the
trials of the human condition.

Their ultimate answer to all of these issues (essentially) went as follows: I want
enduring happiness and tranquility of mind, which come from being a virtuous
person.

It’s a philosophy of life that maximizes positive emotions, reduces negative emotions
and helps individuals to hone their virtues of character.

At any moment, in any situation, and at any stage of life, Stoicism provides a framework
for living well. It reminds people of what is truly important, providing practical strategies
to get more of what is valuable.

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  Ethics
ethics, also called moral philosophy, the discipline concerned with what is
morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied
to any system or theory of moral values or principles

What are the 7 principles of ethics? There are seven principles that

form the content grounds of our teaching framework:

 Non-maleficence. …
 Beneficence. …
 Health maximisation. …
 Efficiency. …
 Respect for autonomy. …
 Justice. …
 Proportionality.

 Pure theory of law

According to Kelsen, a “pure theory of law” is one that is entirely concerned
with the part of knowledge that deals with law, including everything that
does not technically belong to the subject matter of law. According to
Kelsen, a theory of law must deal with the law as it is written, not as it should be

It is called the pure theory of law by Hans Kelsen because it talks about pure
law and it excludes the other factor affecting the definition of law like
morality, ethics, economics, sociology, etc

 Marxist theory of law

There are three basic assumptions in the Marxist theories of law, first,
that law is the product of economic forces; secondly, law is considered

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 to be the tool of the ruling class to maintain its powers over the working
classes; finally, that law will wither away in the future communist society

 Critical legal studies

'Critical legal theory' examines how critical thought repudiates what is taken to be
the natural order of things, be it patriarchy (in the case of feminist jurisprudence), the
conception of 'race' (critical race theory), the free market (critical legal studies), or
'metanarratives' (postmodernism)

Critical legal studies (CLS) is a theory which states that the law is necessarily
intertwined with social issues, particularly stating that the law has inherent social
biases. Proponents of CLS believe that the law supports the interests of those who create
the law

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