A second school of jurisprudence is called legal positivism. Generally speaking, this school of thought is the opposite of natural law, aka moral law, aka biblical law.
Legal positivism proposes that there isn’t necessarily a connection between law and morality. Instead, it holds that law comes from various sources, usually the government. If the government enacts a law, then it should be followed.
Under legal positivism, there is no valid argument for breaking a law, even if the law isn’t considered to be fair or just. For example, there would be no valid justification for breaking a law by peacefully protesting an issue. This is true even if the protestor has strong ethical and moral objections to the issue – though under a natural law theory, the protest would be justified.
Via: study.com Business 103: Introductory Business Law
LSE Research: The Moral Structure of Legal Systems, pt. 1
(Video) After the fall of the Nazis, the connections between law (which calibrates obedience against rule-adherence) and morality (which calibrates obedience against a normative good) acquired a renewed importance: the Nazis claimed to be operating under a legal system that differed in content but not in kind.Some legal theorists agreed: the systemic integrity of a legal code said nothing about its content — the law was simply whatever was posited by lawgivers. They were known as “positivists” for this reason. Meanwhile, those who took the so-called “natural law” position insisted that morality was not separable from the law in this fashion.
The Fiction of ‘Judicial Supremacy’
The fiction of ‘judicial supremacy’ has three tenets which carry huge weight in the minds of Americans.
- Most Americans falsely believe that an opinion issued by the Supreme Court is “the law of the land.”
- Most Americans falsely believe that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of what is constitutional or unconstitutional.
- Most Americans falsely believe that all other branches of government must bow down to the judiciary.
Continue to Matt Trewhella’s article
Pilgrims Tactics: NATURAL LAW
LEGAL RESOURCES FOR PASTORS, CHURCH LEADERS AND CHRISTIANS
