Mere Natural Law

Mere Natural Law PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 168451326X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originalism Is Not Enough In this profoundly important reassessment of constitutional interpretation, the eminent legal philosopher Hadley Arkes argues that “originalism” alone is an inadequate answer to judicial activism. Untethered from “mere Natural Law”—the moral principles knowable by all—our legal and constitutional system is doomed to incoherence. The framers of the Constitution regarded the “self-evident” truths of the Natural Law as foundational. And yet in our own time, both liberals and conservatives insist that we must interpret the Constitution while ignoring its foundation. Making the case anew for Natural Law, Arkes finds it not in theories hovering in the clouds or in benign platitudes (“be generous,” “be selfless”). He draws us back, rather, to the ground of Natural Law as the American Founders understood it, the anchoring truths of common sense—truths grasped at once by the ordinary man, unburdened by theories imbibed in college and law school. When liberals discovered hitherto unknown rights in the “emanations” and “penumbras” of a “living constitution,” conservatives responded with an “originalism” that refuses to venture beyond the bare text. But in framing that text, the Founders appealed to moral principles that were there before the Constitution and would be there even if there were no Constitution. An originalism that is detached from those anchor - ing principles has strayed far from the original meaning of the Constitution. It is powerless, moreover, to resist the imposition of a perverse moral vision on our institutions and our lives. Brilliant in its analysis, essential in its argument, Mere Natural Law is a must-read for everyone who cares about the Constitution, morality, and the rule of law.

Mere Natural Law

Mere Natural Law PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 168451326X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
Originalism Is Not Enough In this profoundly important reassessment of constitutional interpretation, the eminent legal philosopher Hadley Arkes argues that “originalism” alone is an inadequate answer to judicial activism. Untethered from “mere Natural Law”—the moral principles knowable by all—our legal and constitutional system is doomed to incoherence. The framers of the Constitution regarded the “self-evident” truths of the Natural Law as foundational. And yet in our own time, both liberals and conservatives insist that we must interpret the Constitution while ignoring its foundation. Making the case anew for Natural Law, Arkes finds it not in theories hovering in the clouds or in benign platitudes (“be generous,” “be selfless”). He draws us back, rather, to the ground of Natural Law as the American Founders understood it, the anchoring truths of common sense—truths grasped at once by the ordinary man, unburdened by theories imbibed in college and law school. When liberals discovered hitherto unknown rights in the “emanations” and “penumbras” of a “living constitution,” conservatives responded with an “originalism” that refuses to venture beyond the bare text. But in framing that text, the Founders appealed to moral principles that were there before the Constitution and would be there even if there were no Constitution. An originalism that is detached from those anchor - ing principles has strayed far from the original meaning of the Constitution. It is powerless, moreover, to resist the imposition of a perverse moral vision on our institutions and our lives. Brilliant in its analysis, essential in its argument, Mere Natural Law is a must-read for everyone who cares about the Constitution, morality, and the rule of law.

Natural Rights and the Right to Choose

Natural Rights and the Right to Choose PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521812184
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book Here

Book Description
Publisher Description

Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths

Constitutional Illusions and Anchoring Truths PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521732085
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Get Book Here

Book Description
Arkes re-examines legal cases and concepts long thought settled, finding that their meaning is far less clear than commonly accepted.

First Things

First Things PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691213895
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book restores to us an understanding that was once settled in the "moral sciences": that there are propositions, in morals and law, which are not only true but which cannot be otherwise. It was understood in the past that, in morals or in mathematics, our knowledge begins with certain axioms that must hold true of necessity; that the principles drawn from these axioms hold true universally, unaffected by variations in local "cultures"; and that the presence of these axioms makes it possible to have, in the domain of morals, some right answers. Hadley Arkes restates the grounds of that older understanding and unfolds its implications for the most vexing political problems of our day. The author turns first to the classic debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. After establishing the groundwork and properties of moral propositions, he traces their application in such issues as selective conscientious objection, justifications for war, the war in Vietnam, a nation's obligation to intervene abroad, the notion of supererogatory acts, the claims of "privacy," and the problem of abortion.

Common Law and Natural Law in America

Common Law and Natural Law in America PDF Author: Andrew Forsyth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 110847697X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Get Book Here

Book Description
Presents an ambitious narrative and fresh re-assessment of common law and natural law's varied interactions in America, 1630 to 1930.

Natural Law in Court

Natural Law in Court PDF Author: R. H. Helmholz
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674504615
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
The theory of natural law grounds human laws in the universal truths of God’s creation. Until very recently, lawyers in the Western tradition studied natural law as part of their training, and the task of the judicial system was to put its tenets into concrete form, building an edifice of positive law on natural law’s foundations. Although much has been written about natural law in theory, surprisingly little has been said about how it has shaped legal practice. Natural Law in Court asks how lawyers and judges made and interpreted natural law arguments in England, Europe, and the United States, from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the American Civil War. R. H. Helmholz sees a remarkable consistency in how English, Continental, and early American jurisprudence understood and applied natural law in cases ranging from family law and inheritance to criminal and commercial law. Despite differences in their judicial systems, natural law was treated across the board as the source of positive law, not its rival. The idea that no person should be condemned without a day in court, or that penalties should be proportional to the crime committed, or that self-preservation confers the right to protect oneself against attacks are valuable legal rules that originate in natural law. From a historical perspective, Helmholz concludes, natural law has advanced the cause of justice.

Natural Law

Natural Law PDF Author: Robert C. Baker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780758627339
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Greek Stoic philosophers. Roman legislators. The Early Church Fathers. Thomas Aquinas. The concept of a common morality shared by all people-often called ônatural lawö-has a rich and storied past in Western philosophy and Christian theology. However, for hundreds of years many Lutherans have either considered natural law an errant teaching of the medieval Church or they have simply ignored it-that is, until now.

The Decline of Natural Law

The Decline of Natural Law PDF Author: Stuart Banner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197556493
Category : Common law
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
The law of nature -- The common law -- The adoption of written constitutions -- The separation of law and religion -- The explosion in law publishing -- The two-sidedness of natural law -- The decline of natural law and custom --Substitutes for natural law -- Echoes of natural law.

Natural Law Theory

Natural Law Theory PDF Author: Tom Angier
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108586392
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 118

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Section 1, I outline the history of natural law theory, covering Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Aquinas. In Section 2, I explore two alternative traditions of natural law, and explain why these constitute rivals to the Aristotelian tradition. In Section 3, I go on to elaborate a via negativa along which natural law norms can be discovered. On this basis, I unpack what I call three 'experiments in being', each of which illustrates the cogency of this method. In Section 4, I investigate and rebut two seminal challenges to natural law methodology, namely, the fact/value distinction in metaethics and Darwinian evolutionary biology. In Section 5, I then outline and criticise the 'new' natural law theory, which is an attempt to revise natural law thought in light of the two challenges above. I conclude, in Section 6, with a summary and some reflections on the prospects for natural law theory.

The Return of George Sutherland

The Return of George Sutherland PDF Author: Hadley Arkes
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691016283
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book Here

Book Description
From Amherst College, Hadley Arkes seeks to restore, for a new generation, the jurisprudence of the late Justice of the Supreme Court George Sutherlandone anchored in the understanding of natural rights. Arkes argues that if both liberals and conservatives would study the writings of George Sutherland, with unclouded eyes, both groups would set aside their differences and return to the moral ground of their jurisprudence.