The theory of natural law holds that there is a certain order in nature from which humans, by use of their reason, can derive standards for human conduct. For example, Saint Thomas Aquinas (a 13th-century European scholar and Roman Catholic priest), in his Summa Theologica, attempted to derive natural law from his understanding of the divine law revealed by God.
By contrast, philosophers of the European Age of Enlightenment (from the 1680s through the 1700s) such as John Locke in his Two Treatises of Government (1690) ignored the idea of divine law and based their concept of natural law on the fundamental human desire for self-preservation and fulfillment. Accordingly, Locke and other Enlightenment thinkers held that the laws of nature imply government based on consent of the governed as the way to secure natural rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property. The natural law standard for judging the worth of government was the effectiveness of the government in securing the natural rights of individuals. These rights were thought to exist prior to the people's establishment of their government, and all people were entitled to these rights by virtue of their humanity. All were bound to respect and abide by these natural rights because of their capacity to know and justify them through human reason.
The Enlightenment conception of natural law and natural rights influenced the founders of constitutional government in the United States. This influence is evident in the text of the Declaration of Independence and the preambles to the first state constitutions of the original 13 states. However, there were other important influences on the constitutional thought of the founders, such as the political and legal ideas brought to America from England and the experiences in establishing and developing their colonial governments.
The idea of natural law was used from time to time in debates about constitutional issues. For example, both sides in the slavery controversy, from the 1780s to the 1860s, appealed to natural law as justification for their views. Nineteenth-century opponents of strong government regulation of private business also appealed to natural law to support their constitutional arguments. However, during the 20th century, natural law theories have had little influence on the decisions of Supreme Court justices or the thoughts of most legal scholars. Legal protection of individual rights has not been based on natural law doctrines but on the principles and precedents stemming from interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes.
See also Constitutional democracy; Constitutionalism; Constitutional law
Sources
• Hadley Arkes, “Natural Law”, Constitution 4, no. 1 (Winter 1992): 13–20
