JURISPRUDENCE

SUBMITTED BY-
AMIT GROVER
BBA LLB(H) SECTION B
SEMESTER 7
A3221515130
 INTRODUCTION

 From the jurisprudential point of view, natural law means those rules and principles which
are supposed to have originated from some supreme source other than any political or
worldly authority.
 The term natural law is derived from the Roman term jus naturale which means a system
of law based on fundamental ideas of right and wrong. Adherents to natural law philosophy
are known as naturalists.
 It is the unwritten body of universal moral principles that underlie the ethical and legal
norms by which human conduct is sometimes evaluated and governed. Natural law is often
contrasted with positive law, which consists of the written rules and regulations enacted by
government.
 In legal theory and in ancient Hindu, Greek and Roman Law natural law has a primitive
place.
 Indeed Natural law theory has a history where no other space of legal and political theory
is so bejeweled with stars as that of natural law, which scintillates with contribution from
all ages.
 Natural law as considered by its supporters is that law, which is inherent in the nature of
man or society, and is independent of convention, legislation or other institutional
devices.
 The phrase natural law however has a flexible meaning.
SUPPORTERS OF NATURAL LAW

 BLACK STONE observed, “the natural law being co-existent with mankind and
emanating from God Himself is superior to all other laws. It is binding over al the
countries at all the times and no man made law will be valid if it is contrary to the law of
nature”
 CICERO supported natural law since it is the creation of reason of the intelligent man
who stands highest in creation by virtue of his faculty of reasoning. He believed in
universal applicability of natural law because it is based on the general morality of the
human society.
GREEK PHILOSOPHER ARISTOTLE’S
VIEW

 Greek philosophy emphasized the distinction between "nature" on the one hand and
"law", "custom", or "convention" on the other.
 What the law commanded varied from place to place, but what was "by nature" should be
the same everywhere. A "law of nature" would therefore have had the flavor more of a
paradox than something that obviously existed.
 According to him law is either universal or special.
 Special law consists of written enactments by which men are governed. The universal law
consists of those unwritten rules which are recognized among all men...Universal law is
that which conforms to Nature alone.
 The Stoic natural law was indifferent to the divine or natural source of the law: the Stoics
asserted the existence of a rational and purposeful order to the universe (a divine or
eternal law), and the means by which a rational being lived in accordance with this order
was the natural law, which spelled out action that accorded with virtue.
 He popularized the maxim ‘Live according to nature’
 ROMAN PERIOD

 Romans were far greater legal scientists than their counterpart, the Greeks. The Romans
accepted Greek conception of natural law and used it as an instrument of legal
development and legal reform.
 According to prof. Salmond, jus gentium means the law of nations was a purely Roman
idea attained by Roman lawyers long before and knowledge of jus naturale has come to
them from greek philosophy .
 CHRISTIAN PERIOD

 In this period st. Augustine divorced natural law from physical universe and made it a part
of spiritual unity founded upon grace and encompassing earth and sky.
 Natural law therefore, was considered as temporal law which is made by men and governs
human being and states and lex eterna which proceeds from divine mind.
 MEDIEVAL PERIOD

 In this era the churches are regarded as the supreme authority and there is a universal
desire to maintain peace and harmony after a long spell of chaos and confusion due to
religious wars.
 So to preserve stability and expound supremacy of Roman Church both as highest
temporal and religious power the theory of natural law comes in defense of prevailing
social system.
 At this time pope acquires complete control over all beings- whether political or spiritual
spheres.
 MODERN PERIOD

 In the fifteenth century when the authority of church is diminishing new concepts of natural law
started to being.
 Hugo Grotius and Hobbes initiated a new legal theory which disregarded divine will as irrelevant on
the in the philosophy of law.
 But in nineteenth century David Hume demolished the law of nature and said law is human
conventions. His philosophy have an huge impact on Jeremy Bentham.
 The development of the doctrine of sovernity and Monstesquieu’s Esprit of law have an great impact
on French Revolution and dramatic achievement in physical sciences by Darwin’s evolutionary
hypothesis changed the old concept.
 It was Auguste Comte who stated that by analysis, interpretations and observations we can achieve
the social justice.