The natural right is the whole of the standards taking into account the Nature of the Homme and his Finalité in the world (definition of Petit Larousse).

Thus, the natural right of the man are Droit S which come owing to the fact that the Homme is a human being, independently of its social Position, of sound Ethnie, its Nationalité, or any other consideration.

In the broad sense, the natural right indicates any objective search for Norme S of Droit according to the only characteristics suitable for the human being, independently of the designs of the Droit already into force in the human company S.

The expression natural right is likely slightly different meanings:

  • Research of the Juste by a rational and concrete analysis of social realities in their world Context, directed by the consideration of the Finality of the Man in the Universe,
  • immutable Principles, discovered by the Reason, allowing to test the value of the allowed codes of conduct by the objective Droit, which derive from the behavior “Naturel” (instinctive) of the to be S.

History of the concept of natural right

The topic of the natural right occupies a central place in the philosophical reflection, that it is ethical, Politique, religious or Juridique, since the first hard copies of the human Pensée until our days.

In the Western tradition, the Philosophie of the ancient Greece was concerned much with the difference between the " Natural " (physis, φúσις) on a side and the " Law " or " habit " (nomos, νóμος) of the other. What the law order varies from one place to another, but what one understands by " Natural " should be the same thing everywhere. In agreement with the latter, the philosophers fought for the Vie.

The Philosophe Aristote is undoubtedly that which posed the conceptual bases most structured in the ancient Greece on these questions, through its works about the ethical ( ethical in Nicomaque ), the Politique, the economy, and the Nature.

The development of this Tradition in a natural law is usually allotted to the Stoïciens. This natural law recommended how a rational human being, seeking the Bonheur, could act. These theories became very influential among the Juriste S Romans, and consequently played a great part in the theories of the Droit which resulted from this.

The Christianisme considered the concept of natural right. In the Europe of the 12th century and 13th century, the right was one of the principal disciplines in the Université S (Bologna, Paris, Oxford, Salamanque…) and it was necessary to release by the Raison the rules of Droit starting from the Nature of the man and of its finality in the world.

The Large Charter of 1215 (Magna Carta), which was defined in England, integrated the designs of the natural right of this time.

Thomas d' Aquin sought to reconcile the Christianisme with the Philosophie of Aristote.

With the Rebirth, the school of Salamanque reformulated the concept of natural right (16th century). It is also at the origin of careful thoughts in the economic domain, which inspired the economists of the French and Austrian school.

The Philosophe Dutch Hugo Grotius (1583 - 1645) is often regarded as one of the founders of the modern natural right. He is the first philosopher of the modern time to have studied this question, in relation to the International law and the Droit of the trade, at one time when the maritime Commerce developed considerably. Grotius was based on the thought of Thomas d' Aquin.

The British philosopher John Locke studied the natural right under the angle of the political Philosophie. The first work which it published was Law off Natural (law of nature). Must natural is thus the base of the liberalism.

During the Lumières, the natural right appeared, in France, like incompatible with the concept of Absolutisme and Absolute monarchy, by the only fact that the variations under the social conditions, between the Aristocratie which held privileges, and the Tiers state, did not meet any more the requirements of Social justice. Jean-Jacques Rousseau developed the natural right in connection with the concept of equality.

Sieyès applied these theories by developing reflections to the Vote for all.

Samuel von Pufendorf also considered the question, it influenced the development of the American Constitution.

The natural right thus led to the 18th century with the formulation of the Human rights, the the United States and in France, in the liberal design of the 18th century, which led to the development of Constitution S including of the declarations of the human rights.

The Declaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789 is based on four types of fundamental natural rights:

Finally, only the Positivism of the XIXe and 20th centuries tried to deny the existence of the natural right, by considering that it was about a question not Scientifique. At the 19th century, the theories of the positive Droit (Hans Kelsen) introduced a Hiérarchie of the standards on principles Positiviste S (see legal Positivisme).

At the 20th century, after the Second world war, one spoke much about social rights, which generated the creation of the Social security, which would be a form of Sûreté.

Natural right today

The development of the Constitutionnalisme since the end of the Second world war resulted in translating the basic principles of natural right in the constitutional Law and the Constitution S. They also appear in the principles of the Institution S Européenne S or international.

The Lawyer Alain Sériaux, professor emeritus at the university of right of Perpignan, studied the question of the natural right. He studied the doctrines traditional and modern, by taking as benchmark the thought of Aristote and Thomas d' Aquin.

The Philosophe Abraham Maslow introduced the concept of Pyramide of the needs.

The evolution of the company and the Perception of the Enjeu X contemporary raise new questions about the subject, as the questions ecological S. Thus appeared charters of the environment: the " " in Australia (and in the Anglo-Saxon world), and the Charter of the environment, in France, which is one of the fundamental texts registered in the preamble to the Constitution of 1958 with the Déclaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789.

The lawyers consider that the principle of Legal security corresponds to the natural right of the Sûreté. In the European institutions, the Legal security is a principle explicitly recognized in the texts. In France, it appears in the constitution via the Déclaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789 which includes the Sûreté, without being described explicitly.

See also: Legal security

Natural right compared to the right in general

The design of the natural right should be the same one for everyone. It appears that the right Anglo-Saxon, founded on the Common law, and the European concept of the right of tradition romano-Germanic (law statute, then evolution towards the positive Droit), are different, so that the relationship between the natural right and the right in general is appreciably different according to whether one places oneself in the Anglo-Saxon world or to France. (to be supplemented)

Theorists of the natural right

  • 19th century

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