The Problem of Unjust Laws

John Finnis has contributed most significantly to our understanding of how practical reasonableness \u27 has affected creation and evaluation of human law. The main objective of a theory of natural law is to show how sound laws are to be derived from principles based on reason. It is true, as Finnis points out, that the affirmation that \u27unjust laws are not law\u27 . . is [generally] a subordinate theorem of natural law theory. Nevertheless, the experience of the past half century requires that we examine seriously, as Finnis has, the moral obligation of the unjust law