Natural Law in American Constitutional Theory

Natural law has had many meanings and diversified interpretations. Whether in the form of jus naturale,the law of nature, the law of reason, lex naturalis,lex aeterna,natural justice, or due process of law; natural law, in the broadest sense, has evolved as the needs of a particular civilization and the endeavors of its legal scholars have directed.\u27 It is significant, however, that as a philosophy of law, natural law continues to thrive, although the particular system which one community constructs may be abandoned by succeeding generations. Periods of growth in the law have been frequently accompanied by shiftings in natural law premises. An old system of natural law soon becomes sterile when there is immediate necessity for an extension of legal principles. The American Constitution has been a fertile ground for the seeds for natural law, and constitutional theory has already passed through several stages of development, and is apparently upon the threshhold of a new period of growth