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Natural law [1] (Latin: ius naturale, lex naturalis) is a system of law based on a close observation of natural order and human nature, from which values, thought by natural law's proponents to be intrinsic to human nature, can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted laws of a state or society). [2]
The rule according to higher law is a practical approach to the implementation of the higher law theory that creates a bridge of mutual understanding (with regard to universal legal values) between the English-language doctrine of the rule of law, traditional for the countries of common law, and the originally German doctrine of Rechtsstaat ...
[citation needed] Some defenders of natural rights theory, however, counter that the term "natural" in "natural rights" is contrasted with "artificial" rather than referring to nature. John Finnis, for example, contends that natural law and natural rights are derived from self-evident principles, not from speculative principles or from facts. [37]
Rights of nature law is the codification and other implementations of the legal and jurisprudential theory of the rights of nature. This legal school of thought describes inherent rights as associated with ecosystems and species, similar to the concept of fundamental human rights. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Rights of nature proponents contend that re-envisioning current environmental laws from a nature's rights frame demonstrates the limitations of current legal systems. For example, the U.S. Endangered Species Act prioritizes protection of existing economic interests by activating only when species populations are headed toward extinction. [23]
John Rawls used what amounted to an artificial state of nature. To develop his theory of justice, Rawls places everyone in the original position. The original position is a hypothetical state of nature used as a thought experiment.
Scott Shapiro's Planning Theory of Law [2] is built upon two concepts: the nature of legal institutions and the nature of legal norms. The thesis of the Planning Theory argues how legal norms function as shared plans that legal institutions implement in order to exercise social control and governance, regardless of the moral merits of those norms and institutions.
The rest of natural law was first developed somewhat in Aristotle's work, [8] [9] also was referenced and affirmed in the works by Cicero, [10] and it has been developed by the Christian Albert the Great. [11] This is not meant to imply that traditionalist conservatives must be Thomists and embrace a robustly Thomistic natural law theory.