natural law
a principle or body of laws considered as derived from nature, right reason, or religion and as ethically binding in human society.
Origin of natural law
1- Compare positive law.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use natural law in a sentence
“We are creatures that should not exist by natural law,” he says.
Craziest Theories of How ‘True Detective’ Will End: Killer Marty, the Five Horsemen, and More | Marlow Stern | March 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen you have children, and have a family, a very beautiful, natural law comes into your life.
Matthew McConaughey Discusses His Golden Globe Victory, ‘True Detective,’ and More | Marlow Stern | January 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIt used to be a sort of natural law that urban Catholics voted Democratic.
Many think this a precept of natural law; why not of the Constitution?
You want hear me say that because I believe that the physics of natural law or of God trump whatever man tries to do.
From this stage of understanding it was but a short step to the modern view of natural law.
Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate ShalerAnother natural law is that the force required to move a body depends upon its size and weight.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge | VariousOne other natural law which affects the running of watches is this: Variations in temperature affect the elasticity of metals.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge | Various“natural law in the Spiritual World” is a book written to show how the physical laws hold true in the region of spirit.
English: Composition and Literature | W. F. (William Franklin) WebsterHideousness struggles under the natural law of elimination, which necessarily renders it hostile.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor Hugo
British Dictionary definitions for natural law
an ethical belief or system of beliefs supposed to be inherent in human nature and discoverable by reason rather than revelation
a nonlogically necessary truth; law of nature: See also nomological (def. 2)
the philosophical doctrine that the authority of the legal system or of certain laws derives from their justifiability by reason, and indeed that a legal system which cannot be so justified has no authority
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for natural law
The doctrine that human affairs should be governed by ethical principles that are part of the very nature of things and that can be understood by reason. The first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence contain a clear statement of the doctrine.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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