school of natural law

The school of natural law refers to the school of law that takes the natural law that indicates the harmonious order of the universe as the standard of justice, insists on the absoluteness of justice, and thinks that what truly embodies justice is the natural law that exists in people's hearts outside the agreements concluded by human beings and the laws formulated by the state, rather than the rules themselves produced by people's agreements. The school of natural law advocates the existence of a substantial legal value, which is independent of the positive law and serves as a standard to test whether the positive law is justified. The theory of natural law holds that there is a rational order in nature, especially in human nature, which provides an objective value standpoint independent of the will of people (national legislators), and critically evaluates the legal and political structure from this standpoint. In a sense, the right of natural law means that some laws can be deduced from nature, that is, from human nature, from social nature, and even from the nature of things, which can provide a whole with appropriate regulations for human behavior. The original concept of rights of natural law school is more of a color of "natural" rights. Born in nature, human rights also come from nature. The natural law school pays special attention to the objective basis and value goal of legal existence, that is, humanity, rationality, justice, freedom, equality and order. Their exploration of the ultimate value goal and objective basis of law is of great significance for understanding the essence and origin of law. Its most important significance is that it shows a radical idealism in legal research, constructs its own critical weapon with abstract values such as justice, equality and freedom, and has made outstanding contributions in the process of cracking traditional legal concepts and reshaping the sanctity of the times. However, the methodology of natural law is like a cloud flowing in the sky, beautiful but ethereal. It announces the future of law, but it can't build a path to the future reality. What is even more worrying is that the arrogance and proliferation of natural law may make jurisprudence shrouded in emptiness and illusion, making it difficult to grow and mature. In the anti-feudal enlightenment and revolutionary struggle in 17 and 18 centuries, the school of law characterized by emphasizing natural law represented the interests of the emerging bourgeoisie. School of natural law. Therefore, the "classical" school of natural law is called the theory of natural law which is different from other times (ancient, medieval or 20th century), and it shows that the theory of natural law is the most popular in 17 and18th centuries.

Also known as Fuxing Natural Law School. In western legal works, there are different understandings of the meaning of this school. In a broad sense, it refers to natural law (see classical natural law school) or the theory similar to natural law that appeared after 19. In this sense, from the end of 19 to the 1970s, all natural laws or theories similar to natural laws, from the neo-Thomas school of Catholic theology to the non-theological and secular natural law theory, are called the new school of natural law. In a narrow sense, it refers to the non-theological natural law theory that has risen since the end of 19, especially since the Second World War.

Since the beginning of19th century, the thought of natural law has been in a state of decline for a long time, and positivist jurisprudence has an overwhelming advantage. 1At the end of the 9th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a new theory of natural law began to appear. For example, the French jurist J Chamonix (1859 ~ 1922) and others advocated the revival of natural law, demanding that individual rights and social rights be combined with each other under a rational and just system. Another example is R Steiner, a German jurist and founder of Neo-Kantian school of law, who put forward the theory of natural law with variable content. Some legal works even interpret L. Dickie's theory of social linkage as a manifestation of natural law theory. These new natural law theories are obviously different from the classical natural law theories of 17 and 18 century. Classical natural law school advocates resisting tyranny and thinks that natural law is eternal; The new natural law school advocates class harmony, variable content of natural law and so on. After World War II, with the collapse of the fascist regime, positivist jurisprudence, which denied justice and other value norms, was eclipsed, and natural jurisprudence, which emphasized that positive law should be subordinate to justice and other value norms, rose further. The main representatives are American jurist L. L. Fuller and so on. Fuller's theory mainly demonstrates procedural natural law: democratic principles such as non-retroactivity of law are called the inherent morality of law; It emphasizes that positive law is inseparable from values, law and morality.

From the 1960s to the early 1970s, political turmoil and various mass movements occurred in the United States. Under this historical condition, contemporary American scholars put forward new natural law theories, mainly Rawls and Dworkin.