The outstanding fea m ture of natural law has been utilized not so much to explain any legal systebut to fulfill the special needs of a particular age2. for exmple, natural law had been a ready tool in the hands of philosopher, during the following  periods of history –the greeek period, the Roman period, the medieval period and the period of reformation  and the renaissance through to the nineteenth  century3 it imperative to examine the natural laws theorist  through this age and emphasis on their contribution to the development of natural law.

Natural law dates back to 5^th G.B.C, Socrates was one of the philosophers then. He asserted that the existence of immutable moral principles by which all regulation or conducts were to be judged. He agued that man posses the faculty of insight into the nature of conduct.

Natural law  during the Medieval periods was largely dominated by St Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. St Augustine concentrated on things of the mind and  soul. He distinguished between absolute law of nature and law of nature. He was of the view that human law could be ignored  if it is conflicting with divine law as laid down by church. Therefore any law that was in conflict with natural or divine was void. To St Augustine earthly laws were mere evil arising out of man’s sinfulness derived from the fall of man. The church as an exponent of divine law was therefore entitle to interfere with the institution of positive law.

St. Thomas Aquinas 1224-1274 BC in hi position emphasizes;

That which is not just seems to be no law at all.

Hence the force of a law depends

on the extent of his justice……….every

human law has just so much of the law

of nature as it is derived from the law of nature

but if any point it departs from the  law of nature,

A law according to Aquinas is ”an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by him who has the care of the community”. The general definition is meant to apply for four kinds of law. Eternal law, divine law and human law. Eternal law is God’s for the universe. In the whole, divine law directs human beings to their supernatural end, while natural law directs them to their earthly goals [happiness].

It can be immediately noticed that for Aquinas positive laws have a coercive power, that is they are backed up by sanctions.6  This apparently contained a notion of having ‘the care of the community”. Thus a way is provided for distinguishing between morality and the laws of the society.Though they are related but in contrast to a positivistic view,its not this coersive backing which characterizes the laws as laws.

 According to Aquinas, law possesses their directive power, their authority to govern conduct, in  so far as they are grounded on reason. Its in virtue of this that the pronouncement of the law making agency impose obligations and exist as valid laws in the society.

1.     Towards the 18^th and 20^th centuries, there was a revival of natural law.Some notable philosophers came to the rescue of natural law.They are Thomas Hobbes {1588-1679}, Hugo Grotius {1583-1645},John Philips And H.C.A. Hart. These scholars removed natural law from its theotrical framework into which the Medieval scholars have inserted it and they secularized. That is discussing natural law  without referring to God. It was evident that the positivist approach could not offer answers to emerging questions. One of the emerging modern philosophers is Stammer⁷ to him, the idea of law is its application in the realization of justice. Every rule is a means to an end, and that end is justice. He  argued that man must seek a universal method of seeking just laws.

Another modern philosopher is John Finnis.⁸ He noted that there are certain basic goods for human beings in society. The seven basic goods are:

a.     Life that is good health, vitality;, freedom from pains etc.

b.     Knowledge i.e the preference for true beliefs over false beliefs. Others are; Aesthetic experience, friendship, practical reasonableness, religion etc. Finnis argues that these goods are self evident. A legal system must therefore strive to promote these goods in society.

Hart on his part argued that there are certain ‘truism’ or axioms about the human condition which makes it possible for man to enact rules which limit the use or non use of violence, rules of property and the  authorization of sanctions.⁹ Hart is assentially a positivist. But he admits that “there is cure of indisputable truth in the doctrines of natural law”.¹⁰

Lon Fuller¹²on his part departed from the old nation of natural law. He did not subscribe to a system of absolute value, primary aim was to bring out the central theme of natural law. That is, an attempt to discuss those principles of social order which will enable man attain satisfactory life by living together. To this end, he identifies what he calls “the  inner morality of the law”. This is the morality that makes governance of human beings possible by rules. The inner morality of the law is Fuller’s term consist of the generality, promulgation, prospectivity, intelligibility, unself-contradictoriness, possibility of obedience. These are pre-condition term of good law.

Some of the characteristics of natural law in the ancient an d medieval period is that

1.     God is the author of natural law 

2.     Law is a product of reasoning. It is a product of human nature.

3.     Invokes the ordinance of common good.

4.     Natural law is an idea law and therefore a model for positive law.

5.     That natural law is a standard for right and wrong.

Undoubtedly, natural law has contributed to the development of law. Firstly, the idea of a superior than a man made law of the states permeates the jusrisdiction of most countries of the world. The validity of international law has been established arising from natural law theory.¹⁴

Also, the principles of natural justice owe their basis to natural law. These principles have been entrenched into the positive laws of most countries e.g. in Nigeria, the principle has been entrenched into the 1999 constitution.¹⁵

Thirdly, natural law theory has been made a framework of reference for the validity and the enforcement of customary laws. The court has interpreted this to mean fair, just and reasonable and they have used this principle to declare man-made laws as invalid. Similarly, judges has continued to make appeal to natural laws while interpreting statutes.¹⁶ this is particularly evident when the golden rule of statutory interpretation is pressed to service.

Lastly, it has led to the recognition and declaration of Human Right by countries of the world. Note that the UN declaration of Human Rights on freedom in 1948, European Countries Convention of Human Rights in 1950 and the African Charter of Human and Peoples Right in 1881.¹⁷

The natural law theory is faced with some criticism. One of the criticisms of the Saint Aquinas theory is that it fails to explain why laws have the authority of obligation. Thus, natural law thinking is naturally idealistic while the legal positivism is empirical. The natural law primarily emphases what the law ought to be.

Additionally, Hume¹⁸ delivered most scathing  flak on natural law theory.  He destroyed the theoretical foundation of natural law by observing that,  it is not logical to derive “an ought” from “an is”. That is to derive a normative statement from a statement of facts.

Equally, in natural laws, we were told that it was the reasonable faculty that produces certain immutable norms for the conduct of men in the society. But Hume has argued that reason cannot prescribe the course of conduct. It can only indicate the best means of achieving certain ends. He argued that reason is a slave of passion. He added that natural law cannot be a dictate of right reason. Therefore, natural law is illogical and artificial.¹⁸

He argued too that natural law raised the fundamental question of whether law should always reflect the moral contents of any society. This view was underlined in the report of Wolfeden committee on homosexual offences and prostitution in 1957. The committee noted with dissatisfaction that it is not the duty of criminal law to interfere with the private life of citizens or seek to impose a particular pattern of behaviour in a society.²⁰

Philosophers like Jean Paul Satre and Holmes see natural doctrine as a myth^21. According to Holmes, men are always craving for speculative and that has been used as a universal validity under the natural law. To Jean Paul, there is no much as natural law since there is no God, no common human nature and no absolute transcendent law or norms design to guide the conduct of man. To him, mans only norms is his freedom and that he is free unconditionally to accept reality of his freedom. Then what is the source of the particular obligation enunciated by the natural law school?.

  For the concept of perfect, complete, immutable and discoverable system in natural law  is a mere ruse. If the system is such as described,  while positive law and different interpretation of the statute. The very diversity that is observed in the system of positive law raises the question of fundamental antithesis of a fixed and changeless laws of nature. The whole idea of natural law is no more than a psychological reflex²²

CONCLUSION

So long as natural law cannot be divorced from its idealistic framework, so long as the different cannons of interpretation still exists irrespective of the complete and whole characteristics of natural law, so long will the natural law theory amidst its significant influence on the customary and international law continue to float in the normative stream of jurisprudence.

Finally, the ambivalent connotation of natural law particularly in the medieval period is though pious and sublime yet, immeasurable, unchallenging  and unrealistically restrictive.

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