Natural law: from Aristotle and Cicero to Aquinas, Fuller and Article 21
LUG-102 Jurisprudence — Legal Method, Indian Legal System and Basic Theory of Law, Unit II: Natural law as virtue (dharma) — Hindu. · LLB · 60 min
The oldest and most persistent school: the idea that above the law of the State there is a higher law of nature, reason or God by which human law is judged. The lecture covers topic 4 (divine and prophetic laws: Hebrew law, the Law of Manu, Islamic law) and topics 6 to 9 (Aristotle's justice by nature, Cicero's right reason, Aquinas's law of God, Fuller's inner morality), and introduces topic 5 (dharma), which the next lecture develops. It traces the history (Greek, Roman, medieval, the social contract, the decline under Hume, Bentham and Austin, the twentieth-century revival in Stammler, Radbruch, Fuller and Finnis), the criticisms, and natural law in India: 'procedure established by law' from Gopalan to Maneka Gandhi, the basic structure, and the principles of natural justice. Natural law is asked in every paper, as a note, a quotation or a full discussion.
Objectives
- Explain what natural law means and the three senses in which the term is used.
- Trace the development of natural law through Aristotle, the Stoics, Cicero, Aquinas, Grotius, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, quoting each jurist's characteristic statement.
- Explain the decline of natural law in the nineteenth century and its revival in Stammler, Radbruch, Fuller and Finnis.
- Describe the divine and prophetic theories of law: Hebrew law, the Law of Manu and Islamic law.
- Apply natural law thinking to Article 21 after Maneka Gandhi, the basic structure doctrine and the principles of natural justice, and state the standard criticisms of the school.
Slides
- What natural law means
- Greece: Antigone, the Sophists, Aristotle and the Stoics
- Rome: Cicero's right reason, jus naturale and jus gentium
- The middle ages: Augustine and Aquinas, the law of God
- The social contract: Grotius, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and natural rights
- The decline: Hume, Bentham, Austin and the historical school
- The revival: Stammler, Radbruch and the twentieth century
- Fuller: the inner morality of law
- Finnis, and natural law today
- Divine and prophetic laws: Hebrew law, the Law of Manu, Islamic law
- Criticism of natural law, and its value
- Natural law in India: Article 21, the basic structure and natural justice
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