natural law

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natural law

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natural law (countable and uncountable, plural natural laws)

1. (law, philosophy) The set of universal legal or moral principles said to be discernible from nature by reason alone; one of these principles.
   • 1850 [1689], Jean Domat, translated by William Strahan, edited by Luther S. Cushing, The Civil Law in Its Natural Order, 2nd edition, volume 1, page 65:

     Thus, for example, it is a natural law, that he who has been the author of any damage ought to repair it.

   • 1999, William Sweet, “Maritain, Jacques (1882–1973)”, in The Philosophy of Law: An Encyclopedia, →ISBN, page 534:

     For Maritain, natural law is not a written law; it is immanent in nature.

   • 2010, Roger A. Shiner, “Law and Its Normativity”, in Dennis Patterson, editor, A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 424:

     The content of the natural law is the substantive account of ways of living that bring humanity to its natural good. In this broad sense, the natural law is much broader than law understood as a specific human institution.

2. (law, philosophy) A theory describing or positing such principles.
   • 1970, Mark H. Waddicor, Montesquieu and the Philosophy of Natural Law, page 40:

     One of the reasons why it is sometimes felt that natural law is a predominantly rationalistic philosophy is because it has been associated with the concepts of the state of nature and of the original contract.

   • 1992, Joseph Boyle, “Natural Law and the Ethics of Traditions”, in Robert P. George, editor, Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays, →ISBN, page 11:

     Another component of natural law is the view that some specific moral norms follow from these principles in such a way that it is easy for people to see their truth, even though it is possible, because of cultural distortion or personal immorality, that people be ignorant of them.

   • 2007, W. Duncan Reekie, Spiritual Capital, Natural Law and the Secular Market Place, →ISBN, page 21:

     Buckle […] argues that Grotius and Pufendorf understood Natural Law as a science of morals grounded in human nature.

3. A law relating to natural phenomena, a law of nature.

   Synonym: physical law

   • 1883, Henry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World‎^[1]:

     It may seem an obvious objection that many of the Natural Laws have no connection whatever with the Spiritual World, and as a matter of fact are not continued through it. Gravitation for instance—what direct application has that in the Spiritual World?

• (generally): law of nature

• (legal or moral principles): arbitrary law, common law, divine law, positive law

• Black's Law Dictionary 10th Edition (2014)