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Democracy and Natural Law*

Democracy and Natural Law* DEMOCRACY AND NATURAL LAW* Robert L. Calhoun TH E THEME I WANT TO TALK ABOUT is Democracy and the law of nature. I shall be talking in bold terms, defending the thesis that rational defense of democracy appears to me to require as postulate some doctrine of natural law. Natural law is, of course, not a segment of positive law, nor a body of propositions from which positive law can be simply derived. It is to be con- ceived rather, I suggest, as context and presupposition for positive law. At the same time it is truly law, at once fact and norm, entailing both necessity and obligation. I shall conceive it as presupposition peculiarly for democratic political order as contrasted with all sorts of despotism and totalitarianism. I. TH E UP S AND DOWN S OF POLITICA L DEMOCRACY FIRST I WANT TO TALK ABOUT the ups and downs of political democracy, beginning with truisms so obvious that they will be dull, and moving on gradually toward more venturesome comments which may still be dull, but I hope will not be quite so obvious. First of all, my intent here is not his- torical narration, an account of the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Journal of Jurisprudence Oxford University Press

Democracy and Natural Law*

Calhoun, Robert L.
American Journal of Jurisprudence , Volume 5 (1) – Jan 1, 1960
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Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
© 1960 by The University of Notre Dame
ISSN
0065-8995
eISSN
2049-6494
DOI
10.1093/ajj/5.1.31
Publisher site
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Abstract

DEMOCRACY AND NATURAL LAW* Robert L. Calhoun TH E THEME I WANT TO TALK ABOUT is Democracy and the law of nature. I shall be talking in bold terms, defending the thesis that rational defense of democracy appears to me to require as postulate some doctrine of natural law. Natural law is, of course, not a segment of positive law, nor a body of propositions from which positive law can be simply derived. It is to be con- ceived rather, I suggest, as context and presupposition for positive law. At the same time it is truly law, at once fact and norm, entailing both necessity and obligation. I shall conceive it as presupposition peculiarly for democratic political order as contrasted with all sorts of despotism and totalitarianism. I. TH E UP S AND DOWN S OF POLITICA L DEMOCRACY FIRST I WANT TO TALK ABOUT the ups and downs of political democracy, beginning with truisms so obvious that they will be dull, and moving on gradually toward more venturesome comments which may still be dull, but I hope will not be quite so obvious. First of all, my intent here is not his- torical narration, an account of the

Journal

American Journal of Jurisprudence – Oxford University Press

Published: Jan 1, 1960

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