Natural Law Flashcards
Summarise epicureanism
-Purp of law: escape natural dog-eat dog nat. of world
-Key Ideas:
-authority forms from need to escape the dED world
-‘natural laziness’ inclined towards peace
-people voluntarily give up their nat. freedom 4 protect.
-AUTHORITY forms
-ppl bound to rules
- law forms
-law simply the binding rules of authority
-not judged on moral content j law BVO existen.
-led by utilitas
Summarise stoicism (in terms of law)
- law judged on moral content
-law=rule that is fair
-derived from ratio
-found within
-naturally existing
-NATURAL LAW
Describe the differences between epicureanism and stoicism
-Epicureanism= law not necessarily just just gov. by utilility
-Stoicism=law comes from a natural moral compass (right v. w)
-Epicureanism= form. concp. of law
-Stoicism= material concp. of law
Which figures are associated with the epicurean school of thought
-Epiquerus
-Thomas Hobbe
What did Aristotle believe about the conception of law?
-He believed that natural law existed independent of
-public opinion
-just existed
-“just by nature” =/ “just by law”
Name people who subscribed to epicureanism
-Thomas Hobbe
-Epicurues
Name people who subscribed to Stoicism
-Seneca
-Epicetas
-Emperor Marcus Aurelias
Summarise Gaius’ Ideas about Roman law (what u know lmao)
-Roman law can be divided into two parts
-Ius civile
-Law specific to the nation state (civitas)
-Ius gentium
-Law governing all of mankind
-customary law thought to be common to all people
-inter-nation relations governed by this
What were Gaius’ Ideas about Natural Law
-Some parts of ius gentium did not have to be written down because they were so self evident
-constituted parts of natural law
What is the difference between ius civile and ius gentium
ius civile–> particular to one society
-only appl. here
-between citizens of spec. nat.
ius gentium–> applicable across all nations
-between citizens of diff. nations
-largely not recorded (so self-evident!)
Explain the significance of the American declaration of Independence in terms of natural law
-exemplified the idea of “self-evident” truths
-Natural rights
-specifically
-Life, liberty and the Pursuit of happiness
-signified the success of a revolt based on the idea that
-ppl hv right to revolt against a rain that vio. NRs.
-rights they announced sourced from divine law (thought law came from god)
Describe the force of natural law in the Middle Ages
-aequitas canonica???
-Could help undermine man-made laws deemed to be unfair
-e.g: customs unreasonably imposed on certain people
-not exactly the case modern day
Explain the significance of Hugo Grotius’ Ideas on Natural law
-Believed that natural law did not stem from the divine
-no god still natural law
-scholars started looking at NAT. LAW in more sec. way
-wave of prom. scholars thinking more sec. about law
-unis established in this belief
-Thomas + Wolff (first profs)
Which other thinkers are associated with Grotius’ Ideas about natural law
-Thomas
-Wolff
Explain why the Oades case shows the how codification can act at the expense of natural law
-had to follow codified law
-exclusively
-despite bigamy being self-evidently illegal according to divine law (and thus natural law)
-ridiculousness of sit. + constant failure of appeal
-showcases nonsensicality of codification
-natural law should be able to set aside codified laws!!
+Codification cannot be complete
-should cater to natural law argu.
Why were natural law lawyers in favour of codification??*
-Although natural law is ** ASK RUNIA
Why was there an increasing call for natural law to replace Roman law in the 17th century
-against the idea of following smth merely because it is tradition
-violation in principle that every nation should have its own law
Explain the concept of ‘Vernunfrecht’
natural law governed by reason
-only secular roots
-but natural law is not ius gentium
-every system diff
-natural principle= every nation should have its own law
Explain the significance of Thomas Payne in the influence of natural law
-Appeal to common sense 2 garner support for independence
-use of natural law/reasoning to argue why US deserved independence”
-Pamphlet called “Common Sense”
Summarise Kant’s idea about reason
“you should not trust authority, you should trust your own reasoning, think for yourself and you will arrive at the reason of conclusion”
