The Natural Law: A Study in Legal and Social History and Philosophy 60482nd Edition

by Heinrich A. Rommen (Author)

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liberty Fund; 60482nd edition (March 24, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 316 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0865971617
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0865971615
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #116 in Natural Law
- #227 in Philosophy of Law
- #1,205 in Legal History (Books)

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Anthony Bosnick

"The natural law always buries its undertakers" (p. 237, footnote 2)**

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2020

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This book is a classic, first published in German in 1936 and translated into English and revised in 1947. Written by Heinrich A. Rommen, a refugee from Nazi Germany who taught at Georgetown University from 1953 to 1967, it is a wonderful introduction to natural law. If you have any interest in natural law, this book is well-worth reading.

Part I concerns the "History and the Idea of Natural Law." Part II concerns "Philosophy and Content of the Natural Law." These sections (in a brief 237 pages) will guide you through the legacy of Greece and Rome, the Age of Scholasticism, Hugo Grotius, through the Enlightenment to our time. We pass through "The Victory of Positivism" to "The Reappearance of Natural Law."

I persevered to the end, even though it is very challenging. It helps, I would suppose, if you have some background in philosophy and law, but is still readable if you don't. (My son Matthew recommended it to me and without that background also continued on to the end, recognizing the value of Rommen's work.)

The book is nicely divided into sections, chapters, and sub-sections within the chapters that make it clear where you are headed, which to me with little knowledge of natural law was very helpful. When I became saturated by the text, it wasn't long before there was a natural break where I could pause to reflect before continuing on.

Treat yourself to some serious reflection grounded in the Western tradition, and I think you will come away with an appreciation of the value of natural law for our own time.

**This quote is from Etienne Gilson, "The Unity of Philosophical Experience."

8 people found this helpful

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Gadavis

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2019

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Outstanding review of the history of natural law and natural rights. By far the best I have read.

2 people found this helpful

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JW

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the book.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2019

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Beautifully bound, hard-cover, built-in bookmark, like a collector's edition. The book is a classic in natural law.

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2014

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Comprehensive discussion of the natural law and its philosophical foundations.

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James E. Egolf

A Good Defense of Natural Law As Opposed to the Will of the Ruler and the State

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2007

Heinrich Rommen's book titled THE NATURAL LAW was written in 1946 and published in 1947 against the background of the rise and fall of the National Socialists and the terrible tragedies of W.W. II. Rommen's book is a poignant reminder of what the law should as opposed to the will of the ruler, the party, the Volks, etc. This book is based on the Catholic Scholastics and especially St. Thomas Aquinas'(1225-1275) thinking. Rommen included the later Scholastics such as Suarez c. 1545-1618). Readers are shown a reasonable and logical view of law vs. the will of the ruler(s).

Rommen deals with Natural Law as an attempt to reflect what religious men and women consider as a reflection of God's Law. The thinking was that since God is the Creator and author of nature, Natural Law should be an attempt to reflect God's nature rather than assigning an arbitrary will to Divine Providence.

Rommen's book is clear that the two views re God's nature as opposed to God's arbitrary will are important in understanding the temptation to impose unbridled power of rulers which can lead to tyranny and evil. St. Thomas Aquinas' views are a prominent feature of the book. Rommen reminds readers that people should try to maintain a moral code that reflects God's nature. Rommen also deals with the opposing view that Original Sin means that men are depraved and can do nothing right to please God. Rommen uses St. Thomas Aquinas and the later Scholastics to counter this view. Basically, Rommen argues that Original Sin did not mean that men were depraved. He argued that men were not the best they could be, and the Natural Law not only protected people from criminals, but it also provided a useful guide for men to act justly and fairly with other men all of whom were created in God's image.

These debates started c. 1300s in the disputes between the Realists and Nominalists. The Nominalists are that concepts and ideas were merely names agreed upon for philosophical debate. The Realists argued that concepts and ideas were realities and were vital to an understanding of God, Natural Law, and a just moral code. As St. Thomas Aquinas stated, the law was intended to give each man his due. The Nomialist's arguements re the lack of validity trivialized serious philosophical discussion and deprived the views of God's nature. They emphasized God's will since concepts were mere names and could not lead to Natural Law. This was a very dangerous concept since men could not make moral decisions since God's will precluded men from acting a moral agents. The Nominalists also argued that whatever evil occured was the will of God. In other words they ascribed evil to God which St. Thomas Aquinas the Suarez stated was impossible with God's nature. The Nominalist implied predestination to men whose fate and salvation were already determined before men were born. In other words, as Rommen makes clear, men were incapable of making moral decisions and had to accept evil as God's plan. This arguement was then used to condone the evil tyranny of unjust rulers who appointed themselves as God's lieutenants on earth. The implied arguement, later accepted in Protestant cirles, was that criticism of an unjust ruler was an attack on God. Rommen presents St. Thomas Aquinas' view that an unjust law was no law at all and led men to sensilessly act in an evil way. Suarez went so far as to argue that an unjust tyrant could lawfully be deposed as such a ruler set a bad example and committed his subjects to act in complience with evil.

Rommen was not a phony idealist. He was clear that no ruler or political party could create heaven on earth. Rommen argued that Natural Law and an attempt to get men to act in accordance with God's nature was a reasonable concept of law which could prevent the excesses of tyranny and evil. Since rulers held power, they too were required by law to act as best they could with God's nature which admitted no evil.

As mentioned above, Rommen's book was written at the end of W.W. II and was a reminder of what men suffered from blindly listening to evil rulers and political parties. The usefullness of this book could be projected to later attempts at arbitrary power regardless of political labels. One should note that the National Socialists were much less successful in German elections in Catholic regions of Germany during the 1930s, and Hitler & co. (Stalin & co. as well)hated Pope Pius XII and Catholic leaders in their domains. They knew that a relience on a reasonable Natural Law undermined their own self imposed importance. Rommen is clear about this.

While THE NATURAL LAW was translated from German into English, the prose is clear. This book is a good introduction to Scholasticism and legal reasoning. The book is also valuable for thoughtful men who can refute the appeals to tyranny with better ideas.

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Paul Marks

Very good - and important.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2014

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A very good account. And still important today as the struggle against Legal Positivism (the idea that "law" is just whatever the state wants - that law is the "will of the state") continues. The defence of the principle of natural justice (of the idea that "law" is not just the whims of the government) is vitally important.

My only major criticism would be that the late Heinrich Rommen describes the traditional American approach to natural law as "rugged individualism" - it was not that, it was a voluntary cooperation (civil society) which is not the same thing. The non aggression principle of the Common Law (which is from the idea of natural justice - the natural law tradition) is about interaction being civil (not based on force and fraud) it is not individualist in any atomistic sense. Cooperation is fine (totally lawful) - as long as it is honest and not based upon violence or the threat of violence.

Natural law has to have a CONTENT - Heinrich Rommen was quite correct that this content has to be on the level of broad principles (it can not be detailed - putting the broad principle of justice into effect in the complicated circumstances of time and place is a very difficult matter and positive law will QUITE RIGHTLY vary in different times and places even though the fundamental principle of justice remains the same). However, the content of "natural law" (the actual broad principle) has to be clearly stated - or "natural law" just becomes a slogan (not a broad principle by which to judge positive law).

The Common Law nonaggression principle (to each their own - no aggression against the bodies or goods of others) is this principle, and it is not well described by the term "rugged individualism" - as civil society (voluntary interaction) is actually the nonaggression principle in practice.

It should be remembered that Herbert Hoover (with whom the slogan "rugged individualism" is associated) was not, contrary to the mythology, a conservative (nor was he a lawyer - or someone with any deep knowledge of the United States Constitution or conservative legal traditions) - he was a Progressive (although the "Forgotten Progressive" - as history has repackaged him as a conservative for political reasons), both before becoming President and as President (vastly increasing taxes, government spending and regulations - indeed trying to prevent the functioning of the labour market by preventing real wages going down in a slump, which they had done in 1921 and were not allowed to do after the crash of 1929) taking slogans from him (as a description of what American conservatives believe) is deeply misleading.

Dr Rommen was a refugee from Germany (fleeing the Nazis) - so his knowledge of the American conservative tradition (the American approach to the idea of natural law, natural justice, the non aggression principle) was not perfect.

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Aljoscha

Good introduction to natural law theory

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 20, 2011

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The Liberty Fund's decision has to be complimented for its decision to re-issue this classic work of legal philosophy. Rommen's book, originally published in German as `Die Ewige Wiederkehr des Naturrechts', is a superb introduction to natural law. It reaches back to an understanding of natural law that is not contaminated by Finnis' and Grisez's new natural law theory. Rather, Rommen is a brilliant advocate of the view that natural law is grounded in rational and social human nature. (Human nature, of course, not understood in a Darwinian sense, but as an expression of our specifically human end of leading a life of reason, of using our unique capacity, the capacity of reason, in everything we do.) Rommen's careful analysis in Ch. XI of the difference between moral law (in the German original Rommen speaks of 'Sittengesetz' and 'lex naturalis') and juridical law (in the original Rommen speaks of 'Recht' and 'ius naturale') is of rare clarity. Rommen is adamant that Sittengesetz and Recht can be distinguished, but that they are not separate. He rejects the Kantian distinction between internal morality and external legality. Russell Hittinger who has written a beautiful introduction to this text is also preparing a new edition of Rommen's `The State in Catholic Thought'. For further literature by Rommen see:[...]
In my view, the best introduction to natural theory is however Ralph McInerny's Aquinas on Human Action.

2 people found this helpful

Jamili Fontenele

Recomendo pois é trabalho sério

Reviewed in Brazil on April 8, 2020

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Livro extremamente completo com bibliografia bem rica.
Indicado para os que querem pesquisa séria sobre o assunto.

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