Chapter 1 – Heritage of
Law
Natural Law
Agenda


1. Natural Law
2. Roncarelli v. Duplessis
Learning Goal for Today

By the end of the lesson, students will be
able to explain the main philosophers of
natural law
Expectations



Analyse the views of historical and
contemporary philosophers of law
CGE4c – responds to, manages and
constructively influences change in a
discerning manner
CGe7d – promotes the sacredness of life
Aristotle and Rationalism
(384-322 BCE)
a student of Plato at the Academy in 4th
century Athens
Believed that:
 what sets humans apart from other species is
our ability to reason which allows us to tell the
difference between good and bad, the just and
unjust
 Reason is the spark of the divine in human
beings

Plato and Aristotle
Concept of Rationalism

Is the process of using reason to analyze
the natural world through observation.
Plato believed

anyone who really knew what good was
would do good.
Aristotle disagreed

he believed there were three classes of people
1. Some are born good
2. Some can be made good through education
3. Majority of people are ruled by their passions
and education alone will not make them good.
Only law can make people behave well.
According to Aristotle
“Law, which regulates human life in the
state, has this as its highest purpose-to
help citizens use their faculty of reason to
reach their greatest potential and by doing
so to live a good life.”
Cicero (106-43 BCE)
Limits of Civil Law
leading
politician, lawyer and
legal philosopher
Romans believed

That the ideal law was rooted in a divine
source
According to Cicero:
“Law is a natural force; it is the mind
and reason of the intelligent man by
which justice and injustice are
measured.”
Natural laws


They are universal and unchanging.
This idea gave the Romans a higher law,
presumed both a moral and legal
superiority.
Cicero advocated
Civil or human laws should be set aside or
disobeyed if, in the minds of the “wise and
intelligent man”; laws were deemed to be
in conflict with those of nature.
Civil disobedience:

Could be used to compel lawmakers and
government leaders to reform laws that
failed to conform to the laws of nature.
Cicero

Nature was best represented by those
activities that were for the common good
and had some general degree of
application to all citizens.
St. Augustine (354-430 CE)
“Ideal justice can be achieved only when the
“City of God” comes on earth, meaning
when God came back to earth and
Christian justice reigned supreme.”
St. Thomas Aquinas
(1225-1274)
“Law is chiefly ordained to the common
good,” and that the intention of the lawmaker should be to “lead men to virtue.”
Aquinas claimed


Natural science and rationalism were
consistent with Christian truths
Church-made, or canon law was to rule
over all civil, or human-made laws
Aquinas

Law must mirror a natural world order
made known to humans by their own
process of reasoning and by the divine
revelation of Christian prophets
Aquinas

Necessary connection between law and
reason; reason invested law with its very
legitimacy
Practical reason:

tells one what ought to be done

directs humans to do good and avoid evil
Identified four kinds of law


Eternal law: is the body of laws by which
God created the universe and keeps it in
operation.
Exists outside time and will never change
Eternal Law

Impossible for humans to have a perfect
knowledge of eternal law because it is
impossible for us to understand the mind
of God
Natural Law


Is the eternal law as it operates in humans
and can be known by us.
We know this law through our faculty of
reason and can see its workings in the
natural world around us
Divine positive law:



Is that part of the eternal law that has
been revealed in the scriptures
Includes: Ten Commandments
Sermon on the Mount
Human positive law:
Consists of laws that human beings have
made for the proper functioning of society
and the state.
Example: thus shall not kill, but written law
against murder in which the act is defined
and penalties are set out

Rules of Natural Law

The validity of a law is dependent upon
its moral content, or justness
Aquinas order
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Preserve life
To reproduce
To educate offspring
To know the truth about God
To live in society
To shun ignorance
To avoid offending others
Aquinas
Humans are created for a spiritual purpose;
to live in such a way that they will be
united with God after death.
According to Aquinas,


Natural law may be altered if the change
is the adding of laws that would benefit
human life.
People are under no moral obligation to
obey any laws that conflict with divine
laws.
Homework

Hwk read Roncarelli v. Duplessis [1959]
SCR 121 on p.89 & do ?’s #1-4, p.90