Summary: 1. The Distinction of Natural Law and Positive Law – 2. On Theories of Natural Law as Theories of Justice. – 3. Conclusions.
It is not uncommon for us to see or give speeches on the subject of law. By qualifying it as right or wrong, good or bad, etc., we not only talk about its quality but in fact abstract from a simple legal reality whose subject is the state and aspire to meta-legal, mainly ethical, values. Moreover, these values must be a measuring criterion but also must be inherent in the legal act itself that has force and effect and that, as such, derives from the will of the competent state authority through certain procedures. Consequently, there are some rights that are not the product of the state but belong to man through the mere fact of being human. As such, the state has an obligation to recognise them and to ensure that man enjoys them. They are known as natural rights.
This paper aims to clarify the relationship of these rights with the positive law, commonalities, and dividing points, as well as some different variations of natural law.