NATURAL LAW: CHARACTERISTICS AND REPRESENTATIVES - ARTE - 2025

The natural law is a legal concept with ethical and philosophical features that recognizes the existence of human rights that are given by nature before any other arrangement creating man.

"Iusnaturalismo", in its etymological origin, comes from the Latin ius, which means "right"; naturalis, which means "nature"; and the Greek suffix ismo, which translates to "doctrine." For this reason, it is then defined as natural law. The date of the emergence of this term is very old.

Intellectuals like Socrates sought to establish a difference between what is natural and what is created by man, as well as to explain political power based on natural law. Although there are different currents of thought within the same concept, natural law maintains some general theses.

According to these theses, natural law is originated by nature, which establishes what is just in a universal way and is independent of the State's orders. The principles must be understood rationally and is related to morality, understood as the routine of human customs.

characteristics

The doctrine of natural law is governed by a line of principles that are of a universal and unalterable character that give basis to positive legal laws, and those that do not comply with said parameters or go against are considered illegitimate.

Its objective is to decree which norms may or may not be considered rights, in order to be an ethical and supreme corrector.

This right is based on the dogmatism of faith, of divine origin, and part of a rational matter, for which it is irrefutable. In addition, it seeks a common and applicable good in all men, which gives it a universal and dignified tendency.

Likewise, it is timeless because it is not governed or changed by history, but is innate in the human being, in their culture and in their society.

Inalienability

Another characteristic it possesses is inalienability; that is, it avoids being seized by political control, since natural law is considered prior to and superior to the existence of power, the State and positive law, created by man.

As for the security of this right, it is questioned because it is imprecise to know if some content is valid or not and it does not offer arguments for exact sciences, especially when the laws begin to be broader and more specific.

It is at this point when the line of separation between what is emanated by nature and what is created by man is a subject of great debate between legal and philosophical studies, specifically in the approaches of two doctrines such as natural law and law. iuspositivism.

Representatives

The School of Salamanca was where the first concepts of natural law originated, and from there the ideas were studied and rethought by theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The different perspectives and studies led to the division of the concept between classical natural law and modern natural law, determined by the time and space in which the theories were postulated.

Classic representatives

The main authors who proposed the beginning of natural law were Plato, in his famous work Republic and in Laws; and Aristotle, in Nicomachean Ethics or Nicomachean Ethics.

The latter made reference to natural justice, which he defined as that which is valid everywhere and that exists regardless of whether people think it or not. He also described her as immutable.

In his work Politics, Aristotle also stated that human reasoning is part of natural law, which is why canons such as freedom are a natural right.

On the other hand, Cicero formulated that for men of culture intelligence is the law, since it will determine what is the conduct of duty and prohibit evil.

In the Christian sphere, it was Thomas Aquinas who also promoted the ideas of natural law. Thus, he explained that natural law is established by God in an eternal way, that there is an ordering of man's instincts and then there are signs of nature for said instincts.

Modern representatives

The difference between classical and modern natural law is based on the fact that the first part of natural laws, while the second originates from its relationship with the moral (custom).

It was Hugo Grocio who marked the transition between one and the other, but previously the Jesuit Francisco Suárez had already established his thoughts on the matter.

Other representatives in this area were Zenón de Citio, Seneca, Francisco de Vitoria, Domingo de Soto, Christian Wolff, Thomas Jefferson and Immanuel Kant.

Differences between natural law and iuspositivism

The relationship between iusnaturalismo and iuspositivismo is totally opposite, they are opposite faces in the legal field. In fact, in the 19th century the iuspositivistas postulates made the attempt to supplant the iusnaturalista doctrine considering it a utopia.

Iuspositivism, or also called positive law or legal positivism, is a concept that defines the law as the principle of the law and does not admit any previous idea as its foundation.

Therefore, the laws of positive law are objective, they are valued in a set of rules within the legal system, they do not resort to philosophical or religious supreme orders and they do not reason through them, as well as they are independent of morality.

Legal positivism is considered free of judgments that establish what is fair or unfair, since its starting point is what sovereign power dictates. Nor does he seek a goal or subject himself to the pre-established.

Unlike natural law, this right is determined by the conditions of time and space in which it is formally established.

Another of its basic characteristics is imperativism, which means that there is a state power - not religious or philosophical - that allows or prohibits certain ways of acting for its subjects, and if they do not comply with the mandates, they will face sanctions Before the Law.

References

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