Modern criminal justice concepts and practices originate from four main groups, natural law, legal positivism, legal realism, and the sociological perspective; in which each group either is distinctively different or shows some traits of other theories but, each can be exemplified to show their uniqueness. Natural law believes that morality has a place in law; while conversely the legal positivist perspective will argue that empirical evidence and practices should be the only method used when conducting legal practices. Legal realism is the focus and study of how courts ‘actually’ work in everyday life. The final theory of law, the sociological perspective in which law is analyzed by ascribing social norms and changes exhibited in society.
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Laws then, as a governing force used for the polis, are links to what is naturally good and right. According to Wacks (2015), Cicero described natural law as being in agreement with nature, where laws are first introduced through some universal absoluteness such as a God and thus is a higher law than man made laws, and that these laws are discovered through our ability to reason (p.20). For most natural law believers, the ability to find reason in actions under the concepts of law is ‘natural’; that is, our ability to reason and have moral concepts linked to how society functions are how laws should be created. Concepts of right and wrong, though they may vary, are ways in which man reasons perceptions and ideas of good and bad. We are actively engaged in a society with laws; because of this, natural law theory simply believes that where laws are to be created there must also be some link to moral …show more content…
Under this general train of thought we can better understand why one should follow natural law theory. According to Aquinas, laws are directed to the common good, “the law belongs to that which is a principle of human acts because it is their rule and measure” (Feinberg & Coleman, 2007, p. 9-10). We abide by rules and measure acceptable acts through our collective reason of what is perceived as good and bad; in this we satisfy our general need to live in state of safety with accepted cultural norms. “There belong to natural law, first, certain most general precepts that are known to all, and secondly certain secondary and more detailed precepts which are, as it were, conclusions following closely from first principles” (Feinberg & Coleman, 2007, p. 12-13). Natural laws are innate in our being, as such we cannot get away from natural law. It is by this that natural law is justified in its application, that is, because there exists certain fundamental concepts of right and wrong in
Laws then, as a governing force used for the polis, are links to what is naturally good and right. According to Wacks (2015), Cicero described natural law as being in agreement with nature, where laws are first introduced through some universal absoluteness such as a God and thus is a higher law than man made laws, and that these laws are discovered through our ability to reason (p.20). For most natural law believers, the ability to find reason in actions under the concepts of law is ‘natural’; that is, our ability to reason and have moral concepts linked to how society functions are how laws should be created. Concepts of right and wrong, though they may vary, are ways in which man reasons perceptions and ideas of good and bad. We are actively engaged in a society with laws; because of this, natural law theory simply believes that where laws are to be created there must also be some link to moral …show more content…
Under this general train of thought we can better understand why one should follow natural law theory. According to Aquinas, laws are directed to the common good, “the law belongs to that which is a principle of human acts because it is their rule and measure” (Feinberg & Coleman, 2007, p. 9-10). We abide by rules and measure acceptable acts through our collective reason of what is perceived as good and bad; in this we satisfy our general need to live in state of safety with accepted cultural norms. “There belong to natural law, first, certain most general precepts that are known to all, and secondly certain secondary and more detailed precepts which are, as it were, conclusions following closely from first principles” (Feinberg & Coleman, 2007, p. 12-13). Natural laws are innate in our being, as such we cannot get away from natural law. It is by this that natural law is justified in its application, that is, because there exists certain fundamental concepts of right and wrong in