Natural Law Commons^™

Public Reason, Abortion, And Cloning, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

Every society, liberal or illiberal, takes a public stand on the question whether abortion is or is not a form of criminal activity. If that question were left to private judgment, people who judge it homicide would be entitled to use force to prevent their fellow citizens engaging in it.

The need for the law and public policy to take a stand has become more and more obvious for two reasons. The first has to do with the standard purpose of abortion, as that term is commonly used: to end the life of a fetus/unborn child. As Jeffrey Reiman argues …

Natural Law And The Ethics Of Discourse, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This essay argues that Plato's critical analysis of the ethics of discourse is superior to Habermas', and more generally that Habermas has no sufficient reason to propose or suppose the philosophical superiority of "modernity." The failure of Hume and Kant and much modern philosophy to understand the concept and content of reasons for action underlies Habermas' attempted distinction between ethics and morality, and Rawls' concept of public reason. A proper study of discourse also yields a metaphysics of the person, and thus reinforces the ethics.

Euthanasia, Morality, And Law, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

"Arguments for legalising euthanasia rely on claims about autonomy rights, or claims about political pluralism, or on both sorts of claim. My response will make three main points. First, those demanding this legalisation have shirked their elementary obligation to describe the alleged right, identify who has it, and delineate its boundaries as a right supposed to trump other goods, interests, and the wellbeing or rights of others. Second, they have neglected, or at best hugely underestimated, the casualties who would be, and in some places already are being, created by the success of their campaign. Third, they proceed on an …

The Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission: Another Look At Western Water, Denise D. Fort

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Leo M. Romero

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Natural Law And Birthright Citizenship In Calvin's Case (1608), Polly J. Price

Faculty Articles

The roots of United States conceptions of birthright citizenship lie deep in England's medieval past. This Article explores Calvin's Case (1608) and the early modem common-law mind that first articulated a theoretical basis for territorial birthright citizenship. Involving all the important English judges of the day, Calvin's Case addressed the question of whether persons born in Scotland, following the descent of the English crown to the Scottish King James VI in 1603, would be considered "subjects" in England. Calvin's Case determined that all persons born within any territory held by the King of England were to enjoy the benefits of …

Good Of Marriage And The Morality Of Sexual Relations, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This article examines the morality of sexual relations, referencing the views of many other scholars on the subject including Aquinas, Grisez, Noonan, and Koppelman.

The Good Of Marriage And The Morality Of Sexual Relations: Some Philosophical And Historical Observations, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This article examines the morality of sexual relations, referencing the views of many other scholars on the subject including Acquinas, Grisez, Noonan, and Koppelman.

Fair Use In American And Continental Laws, Omar M.A. Obeidat

LLM Theses and Essays

Intellectual property, unlike tangible property, does not exclusively occupy one place at a designated time. Instead, intellectual property is composed of information which can be reproduced or used in multiple places at any given time. This fundamental difference between intellectual and tangible property is reflected in the legal provisions that regulate these types of property. There are two dominant theories that justify the legal protection of intellectual property: the individualistic European approach, and the commercial Anglo-American approach. Under the European approach, the protection of the creation is a natural right guaranteed to the author. In other words, natural law guarantees …

Environmental Justice And Native Americans: The Mescalero Apache And Monitored Retrievable Storage, Kristin Shrader-Frechette

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

All The Company Of Heaven, Milner S. Ball

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Joseph Vining, From Newton's Sleep

Rivers As Legal Structures: The Examples Of The Jordan And The Nile, Joseph W. Dellapenna

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Communicative Power And The Concept Of Law, Ulrich K. Preub

Cardozo Law Review

The idea that the law was founded on the self-interest and the will of rational individuals was first developed and proven in the social contract theories of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. These theorists reacted-admittedly, in extremely different ways-to the problem of finding a collective basis in a world which had lost its common religious fundaments and the economic basis of feudal communal life. The European world of the seventeenth century had fallen apart. The universalism of the catholic world had been replaced by a plurality of subjective worldviews championed by individuals, groups, sects, and new social entities. How could one …

The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Equitable Remedies And Other Types Of Non-Money Judgments In United States And French Courts: A Comparative Analysis, Noele Sophie Rigot

LLM Theses and Essays

Courts of industrialized nations are often faced with adjudication of cases which involve foreign components. It is common for those courts to be asked by individuals or legal entities from a transnational environment to adjudicate with regard to some elements already adjudged in a different legal system as if it were a local judgment. The question that arises is how effects should be given when dealing with prior adjudications. Most countries agree to recognize some effects determined by foreign jurisdictions, as long as those determinations meet standards that guarantee proper integration of the foreign decision into the domestic setting. These …

Florida Game And Fresh Water Fish Commission V. Flotilla, Inc., Holly R. Harvey

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Determining What Is In The Public Welfare In Water Appropriations And Transfers: The Intel Example, Susanne Hoffman-Dooley

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Future Of High-Level Nuclear Waste Disposal, State Sovereignty And The Tenth Amendment: Nevada V. Watkins, Sonny Swazo

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Natural Law And Constitutional Law, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

A distinguishing feature of the natural law, as Catholics have always understood it, is the set of exceptionless negative moral norms, including that against intentionally killing the innocent. These norms constitute the superstructure of the Christian moral life. They also serve as a ramp to heaven for non-Christians. As the Holy Father made so powerfully clear in the encyclical Veritatis Splendor [VS], when we preach the Gospel we preach the good news of salvation through Jesus. "It is precisely on the path of the moral life that the way of salvation is open to all." [VS …

Trips--Natural Rights And A "Polite Form Of Economic Imperialism", A. S. Oddi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article discusses the current predominance of natural rights theory in the area of intellectual property and of patents in particular. Due to the alleged problems of international theft and pirating of patents, the recent GATT negotiations saw intellectual property law come to center stage in the debate over trade. These negotiations concluded that trade-related aspects of intellectual property law can no longer be left to the public policy of individual countries, but require new international minimum standards.

The author discusses how the basic principles of natural rights theory have been used to convince the world community to move toward …

Unjust Laws In A Democratic Society: Some Philosophical And Theological Reflections, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

Largely rejecting Christian faith and every other recognition of human dependence upon transcendent intelligence and will, our societies are diverging further and further from every type of Christian commonwealth or "civilization of love." In such a situation, one must ask whether Christians involved in politics can have a reasonable expectation of shaping the main lines of public policy and law. Can they expect to do any more than, sometimes, help limit the damage and, always, bear witness to the faith and to the moral truths which are taught by faith?

The Continental Moral Rights Doctrine And Its Applicability In The United States Copyright System, Oswaldo Jose Quintana

LLM Theses and Essays

In the last half of the twentieth century, international copyright protection has become of much greater concern as the copyright industry has become supranational. Treaties enacted in the last ten years such as the Berne Convention Implementation Act, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, provide the highest copyright protection available at the international level. Global piracy has declined in the last several years because of these provisions. However, the adherence by the United States to these treaties has caused controversy; some maintain that it represents a major overhaul of federal law …

Federal Agency Management Plans Are Ongoing Actions Under Endangered Species Act's Section 7: Pacific Rivers Council V. Thomas And Northwest Forest Resources Council, Cheryl Bada

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Arsenic And Old Lace: The Epa Should Not Have Approved A Water Quality Standard For Arsenic That Is Below Natural Background Levels In City Of Albuquerque V. Browner, Cyndi Mojtabal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Water Rights, Anthony Scott, Georgina Coustalin

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

State And Tribal Water Quality Standards Under The Clean Water Act: A Case Study, Denise D. Fort

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act Of 1995: Where Will The New Federalism Take Environmental Policy, Denise D. Fort

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Freedom And Criminal Responsibility In The Age Of Pound: An Essay On Criminal Justice, Thomas A. Green

Articles

The concept of freedom has two main aspects: political liberty and freedom of the will. I am concerned here with the latter, although - as these two aspects of freedom are not entirely unrelated to each other - I shall touch also on the former. Enough has been written from a philosophical perspective on the relationship between free will and the law that it is not easy to justify yet another such undertaking. But there may still be room for some informal observations on the manner in which doubts about the concept of freedom of the will affected discussion of …

America's Water: Federal Roles And Responsibilities, Denise D. Fort

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Which Right Is Right: The Pueblo Water Rights Doctrine Meets Prior Appropriation, Pierre Levy

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays, Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays. Edited by Robert P. George. Oxford University Press. 371 pages. $39.95.

This book's editor, Princeton legal philosopher Robert George, has assembled essays by leading natural law thinkers and their most formidable commentators and critics. The essays, according to George, "convey an idea of the diversity of contemporary natural law theories...'liberal' and 'conservative'.... Some theories fit comfortably into the tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas, others are related to that tradition remotely, if at all."