Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Natural Law
Public Right And Humane Punishment, Adam J. Macleod
Public Right And Humane Punishment, Adam J. Macleod
Scholarly Articles
Retribution is the strategic lynchpin for securing justice and the presumption of innocence. It is the justification that takes the criminal defendant to be a human being rather than a mere instrument of social engineering and political control. By contrast, modern, results-oriented theories of punishment—deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation—have made our institutions of criminal justice less humane in important ways. Gerard Bradley’s contemporary, detailed account of the old idea of retribution can be cashed out in legal doctrines that secure the presumption of innocence and limit the corrosive effects of strict-liability offenses. This new articulation of an old juristic concept provides …
The Natural Law Moment In Constitutional Theory, J. Joel Alicea
The Natural Law Moment In Constitutional Theory, J. Joel Alicea
Scholarly Articles
Something new is happening in American constitutional theory. Never before have so many legal scholars sought to ground constitutional theory in the natural-law tradition. Indeed, we can truly say that we are living through a natural-law moment in constitutional theory, a period of unprecedented interest in natural law among constitutional theorists. This immediately calls to mind three questions. First: how, if at all, are the theorists of this moment different from prior theorists who sought to ground constitutional theory in natural law? Second: what explains the rise of natural law in American constitutional theory? Third: what are the implications for …
Why Equity Follows The Law, Adam J. Macleod
Why Equity Follows The Law, Adam J. Macleod
Scholarly Articles
Renewed attention to equity in higher education is welcome because true equity helps us to reason together well. When administered correctly, the jurisprudence of equity models civil discourse and, therefore, can teach us how to carry out civic engagement reasonably. Equitable interpretation of the law teaches us how to understand each other charitably. And equity’s deference to law teaches us how to reason well together about our practical problems. Law is the practical reasoning that we do together. Equity serves the ends of justice by serving law, rather than undermining it. These functions of equity in adjudication point toward a …
Recovering Classical Legal Constitutionalism: A Critique Of Professor Vermeule’S New Theory,, Kevin C. Walsh
Recovering Classical Legal Constitutionalism: A Critique Of Professor Vermeule’S New Theory,, Kevin C. Walsh
Scholarly Articles
Professor Adrian Vermeule has provoked renewed interest in the relationship between the classical natural law tradition and the Constitution of the United States with his book, Common Good Constitutionalism: Recovering the Classical Legal Tradition. As scholars self-consciously working in that tradition, we welcome contemporary attention to that perennial legal philosophy. Yet in reading and rereading the book, we found ourselves frustrated with it, notwithstanding the apparent agreement we shared with the author at some abstract level of principle. And that abstraction, it turns out, is just the problem with the book’s application of the classical legal tradition to constitutional law. …
The Moral Authority Of Original Meaning, J. Joel Alicea
The Moral Authority Of Original Meaning, J. Joel Alicea
Scholarly Articles
One of the most enduring criticisms of originalism is that it lacks a sufficiently compelling moral justification. Scholars operating within the natural law tradition have been among the foremost critics of originalism’s morality, yet originalists have yet to offer a sufficient defense of originalism from within the natural law tradition that demonstrates that these critics are mistaken. That task has become more urgent in recent years due to Adrian Vermeule’s critique of originalism from within the natural law tradition, which has received greater attention than previous critiques. This Article is the first full-length response to the natural law critique of …
Response To Francis Oakley, Kenneth Pennington
Response To Francis Oakley, Kenneth Pennington
Scholarly Articles
No abstract provided.
Natural Law, Homosexual Conduct, And The Public Policy Exception, Raymond B. Marcin
Natural Law, Homosexual Conduct, And The Public Policy Exception, Raymond B. Marcin
Scholarly Articles
The specific focus of this conference is on the problems posed by the imminent recognition of homosexual marriages in one or more jurisdictions. The question posed by the "laws of nature" exception to the inter-jurisdictional marriage recognition principle is whether legally endorsed homosexual marriages, involving (as they must) societal approval and endorsement of homosexual conduct, are contrary to natural law. This paper will explore the classic natural law theory of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the reasons why that theory condemns homosexual conduct as being contrary to the law of nature.
'Posterity' In The Preamble And A Positivist Pro-Life Position, Raymond B. Marcin
'Posterity' In The Preamble And A Positivist Pro-Life Position, Raymond B. Marcin
Scholarly Articles
Arguments for the overturning of the Roe decision can be grouped into two categories: (1) the positivist argument that, contrary to the assertions in the Roe decision, nothing in the Constitution protects the right to privacy in the abortion decision (thus leaving legislatures free to regulate the matter), and (2) the natural law argument that a fetus or unborn child has a fundamental and inalienable right to life (thus preventing legislatures from regulating the matter, except for compelling governmental reasons). The right-to-life movement is grounded upon the latter, natural law position. The difficulty for the pro-life movement is that, if …
Individual Conscience Under Military Compulsion, Raymond B. Marcin
Individual Conscience Under Military Compulsion, Raymond B. Marcin
Scholarly Articles
The exercise of individual conscience under military compulsion is an issue revived by the My Lai courts martial. Natural law jurists saw a place for individual conscience, but the positivist school's dominance changed that. The Nuremberg doctrine denied the defense of superior orders, and now the debate is raging again.