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• Introduction
• Translator’s Preface
• Part One: History of the Idea of Natural Law
• Chapter I: The Legacy of Greece and Rome
• Chapter II: The Natural Law In the Age of Scholasticism
• Chapter III: The Turning Point: Hugo Grotius
• Chapter IV: The Natural Law In the Age of Individualism and Rationalism
• Chapter V: The Turning Away From Natural Law
• Chapter VI: The Victory of Positivism
• Chapter VII: The Reappearance of Natural Law
• Part Two: Philosophy and Content of the Natural Law
• Chapter VIII: Being and Oughtness
• Chapter IX: Intellect and Will
• Chapter X: The Structure of the Sciences
• Chapter XI: The Nature of Law
• Chapter XII: Morality and Law
• Chapter XIII: The Content of the Natural Law
• Chapter XIV: Natural Law and Positive Law
• Chapter XV: Conclusion
• Select Bibliography
• General Studies
• Ancient
• Medieval and Scholastic
• Enlightenment
• Anglo-american
• Contemporary Debates

contemporary debates

In addition to the issue of judicial review, contemporary debates about natural law often crystalize around two other problems: first, the ongoing debate over legal positivism; second, the role of subjective rights in natural law theory. The book by John Finnis is a good place to begin in understanding both of these problems. A professor at Oxford, Finnis has developed an influential theory of natural law that has affinities to both the scholastic and analytical traditions. Finnis also systematically develops a theory of natural rights. The works by George, MacCormick, and Raz indicate that debates between natural lawyers and positivists are more refined today than they were a generation ago. On the problem of natural rights, see the two works by Fortin, who questions the compatibility between the older natural law tradition and the modern notion of personally possessed (i.e., subjective) rights. McInerny and Veatch also explore philosophical problems of welding together the two traditions. Maritain’s book is a famous example of the effort by some neo-Thomists to affirm the modern notion of inalienable rights. Hervada, on the other hand, develops an older conception of natural rights, not unlike Rommen. Writings by Tierney, Tuck (above), and Villey take different positions on the historical question of whether modern natural rights are rooted in the medieval scholastic tradition. Books by Gewirth, and Rasmussen and Den Uyl are recent efforts to make sense of natural or human rights completely apart from the scholastic tradition. Finally, Shapiro provides an intellectual history of the evolution of modern rights theories.

• Finnis, John. Natural Law and Natural Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1980.
• Fortin, Ernest. “The New Rights Theory and the Natural Law.” Review of Politics 44 (October 1982): 590–612.
• ———. “‘Sacred and Inviolable’: Rerum Novarum and Natural Rights.” Theological Studies 53 (1992): 202–33.
• George, Robert P., ed. Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1992.
• ———. The Autonomy of Law: Essays on Legal Positivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1996.
• Gewirth, Alan. Reason and Morality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
• Hervada, Javier. Natural Right and Natural Law: A Critical Introduction. Trans. Alban d’Entremont. Pamplona, Spain: University of Navarra, 1987.
• MacCormick, Neil. “Natural Law and the Separation of Law and Morals.” In Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays, ed. Robert P. George, 105–33. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1992.
• Maritain, Jacques. Man and the State. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951.
• McInerny, Ralph. “Natural Law and Human Rights.” American Journal of Jurisprudence 36 (1991): 1–14.
• Rasmussen, Douglas B., and Douglas J. Den Uyl. Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1991.
• Raz, Joseph. The Morality of Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, 1986.
• Shapiro, Ian. The Evolution of Rights in Liberal Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
• Tierney, Brian. “Villey, Ockham and the Origin of Individual Rights.” In The Weightier Matters of the Law, ed. John Witte and F. S. Alexander. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988.
• ———. “Aristotle and the American Indians—Again.” Christianesimo Nella Storia 12 (Spring 1991): 295–322.
• Veatch, Henry B. Human Rights: Fact or Fancy? Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985.
• Villey, Michel. Le droit et les droits de l’homme. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1983.

This book was set in Caslon, an English type designed in 1722 by William Caslon. It is often used in body text because the individual letters have a simple charm and are interesting and legible.

Printed on paper that is acid-free and meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48-1992.(archival)

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