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School of Thought: 17th Century Natural Rights Theorists

The 17th century was an important period in the development of natural law theories. The crises and revolutions of the mid-century prompted many thinkers to see civil and economic relations as being based on natural law and natural rights, independent of the monarch or the church. These thinkers laid the foundation for the further secularization of natural law theories in the Enlightenment of the 18th century and the revolutions which came out of that, namely the American and French Revolutions.

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) John Locke (1632-1704) Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634)

For more information see:

  • Brian Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 2001).
  • Stephen Buckle, Natural Law and the Theory of Property: Grotius to Hume (Oxford: Claredon Press, 1991).
  • Roscoe Pound, The Ideal Element in Law (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002).
  • Heinrich A. Rommen, The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy, trans. Thomas R. Hanley. Introduction and Bibliography by Russell Hittinger (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1998).

9 People in this Group:

sort name   name   birth ↑ death  
Zwingli Huldrych Zwingli 1484 1531
Grotius Hugo Grotius 1583 1645
Culverwell Nathaniel Culverwell 1619 1651
Sidney Algernon Sidney 1622 1683
Pufendorf Samuel von Pufendorf 1632 1694
Locke John Locke 1632 1704
Cumberland Richard Cumberland 1632 1718
Bayle Pierre Bayle 1647 1706
Carmichael Gershom Carmichael 1672 1729