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natural law n: a body of law or a specific principle of law that is held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law◇ While natural law, based on a notion of timeless order, does not receive as much credence as it did formerly, it was an important influence on the enumeration of natural rights by Thomas Jefferson and others.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.
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n.Moral rules and principles believed to govern human behavior naturally, as an inherent part of human nature, regardless of laws enacted by people; see also positivism
The Essential Law Dictionary. — Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008.
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a higher law against which human laws can be measured. Articulated by Aristotle and developed by Cicero, the idea of natural law is an old one. St Thomas Aquinas adapted the doctrine to Christianity, thus scriptures could provide content to the natural law. Grotius and Hobbes offered a secular view, which had the natural reason of man as the source of the natural law. The focus was on right reason. Modern Hartian jurisprudence theory allows a minimum content to natural law based on the notion of survival and limited resources. The Natural Law Party, which contested many hundreds of seats in the 1992 UK general election, had nothing to do with jurisprudence but was concerned with transcendental meditation. See positivism.
Collins dictionary of law. W. J. Stewart. 2001.
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Principles considered to come from nature and to bind human society in the absence of or in addition to human-made (positive) law.For example, the Declaration of Independence's statement that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..." is an assertion of natural law.Category: Small Claims Court & Lawsuits
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary. Gerald N. Hill, Kathleen Thompson Hill. 2009.
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n. A philosophical explanation of the origins of law, grounding it in purported external facts (such as biology, religious conceptions of right and wrong, and so on) rather than in human custom or practice.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary. Susan Ellis Wild. 2000.
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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.The term natural law is derived from the Roman term jus naturale. Adherents to natural law philosophy are known as naturalists.
Dictionary from West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005.
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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.The term natural law is derived from the Roman term jus naturale. Adherents to natural law philosophy are known as naturalists.
Short Dictionary of (mostly American) Legal Terms and Abbreviations.
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n.1) standards of conduct derived from traditional moral principles (first mentioned by Roman jurists in the first century A.D.) and/or God's law and will. The biblical ten commandments, such as "thou shall not kill," are often included in those principles. Natural law assumes that all people believe in the same Judeo-Christian God and thus share an understanding of natural law premises.2) the body of laws derived from nature and reason, embodied in the Declaration of Independence assertion that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."3) the opposite of "positive law," which is created by mankind through the state.
Law dictionary. EdwART. 2013.
