Some Reasons for a Restoration of Natural Law Jurisprudence

Authors

Charles E. Rice, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1989

Publication Information

24 Wake Forest L. Rev. 539 (1989)

Abstract

The growing influence of utilitarianism and legal positivism in American jurisprudence today and the decline of natural law have produced an ominous shift in the foundation of our legal system. This shift is illustrated by various courts' approaches to momentous legal issues of the Twentieth Century such as abortion and euthanasia. Ultimately, legal positivism is unacceptable as a jurisprudential framework because it provides no inherent limits on the power of the state and no basis for determining what is just. In contrast, the natural law provides a jurisprudential framework that both guides and limits the civil law. It therefore is both a practical and a necessary alternative to legal positivism.

Comments

Copyright by Wake Forest Law Review. Reprinted with permission.

Recommended Citation

Charles E. Rice, Some Reasons for a Restoration of Natural Law Jurisprudence, 24 Wake Forest L. Rev. 539 (1989).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/377