natural law

noun

Definition of natural law

: a body of law or a specific principle held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law

Examples of natural law in a Sentence

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Paid for by a freedom loving American Citizen exercising my natural law right, protected by the 1st Amendment and protected by the 2nd Amendment. — Emily Stewart, Vox, "Facebook won’t fix itself," 15 Nov. 2018 Paid for by a freedom loving American Citizen exercising my natural law right, protected by the 1st Amendment and protected by the 2nd Amendment. — Emily Stewart, Vox, "Facebook and Twitter’s midterm task: fighting off online efforts to suppress the vote," 3 Nov. 2018 Founded in 2009, the institute is devoted to the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th Century Dominican friar associated with natural law, a moral philosophy that undergirds much of contemporary conservative legal thought. — Jess Bravin, WSJ, "Justice Neil Gorsuch’s Speech to Catholic Group Closed to the Media," 18 Oct. 2018 Paid for by a freedom loving American Citizen exercising my natural law right, protected by the 1st Amendment and protected by the 2nd Amendment. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "A new kind of dark money on Facebook is influencing elections," 18 Oct. 2018 The foundation of Maharishi Vedic City is Veda, an ancient Hindu principle that prioritizes harmony, balance and natural law. — Jennifer Billock, Smithsonian, "Seven Planned Utopian Towns That You Can Visit Today," 23 May 2018 Even the Catholic Church sees this not as a theological issue but as a matter of natural law, more a subject for philosophers, psychiatrists and scientists than for preachers as such. — Garry Wills, New York Times, "The Pious Presidency of Jimmy Carter," 26 Apr. 2018 The worst things imaginable can happen to this guy for no reason at all without violating any natural law. — Elif Batuman, The New Yorker, "A Public Defender’s Polyphonic Novel of Football and Social Justice," 30 Apr. 2018 And on Friday, parents began that act that inverts the natural law of the universe: burying their own children. — TIME.com, "TIME Health," 17 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'natural law.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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30 Nov 2018

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The first known use of natural law was in the 15th century

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natural law

noun

Legal Definition of natural law

: a body of law or a specific principle of law that is held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law

Note: While natural law, based on a notion of timeless order, does not receive as much credence as it did formerly, it was an important influence on the enumeration of natural rights by Thomas Jefferson and others.