Hugo Grotius was a Republican philosopher who was born in the Netherlands. As the founder of the philosophical school of jurisprudence, he is revered. Grotius asserted in his well-known book "The Law of War and Peace" that positive morality and natural law are both founded on the idea of righteousness and that natural law derives from the social nature of man. In fact, natural justice is justice based on the truth. Human behavior norms are derived from sound reasoning and are supported by the state's coercive power notwithstanding widespread public disapproval. According to Grotius, the fact that people agree on some standards of behavior suggests that the original rationale for the rules existed.

He laid the foundation for the modern, rationalistic, secular interpretation of natural law by distancing the science of law from theology and religion. He cited the urge for society, or the social life, "not of any and every sort, but peaceful, and organized according to the measure of his intelligence, with those who are of his own kind," as one of the characteristics that make up man. He disproved the Greek Skeptic Carneades' theory that people are compelled by nature to pursue only their own interests, holding that people are naturally sociable and can coexist peacefully in society.

Grotius defined

This law of nature would apply "even if we should concede that which cannot be conceded without the utmost wickedness, that there is no God, or that the affairs of men are of no concern to Him." Natural law is defined as "a dictate of right reason which points out that an act, according as it is or is not in conformity with rational nature, has in it a quality of moral baseness or moral necessity."

Thus, Grotius established the everlasting reason that permeates the universe as the foundation for the natural law, while acknowledging the possibility of a theist foundation as well.

Grotius noted that there were two ways to demonstrate whether a given thing followed the law of nature or not. "Proof a posteriori is in concluding, if not with absolute assurance, then with every probability, that that is according to the law of nature which is believed to be such among all nations, or among all those that are more advanced in civilisation," whereas "proof a priori consists in demonstrating the necessary agreement or disagreement of anything with a rational or social nature." Grotius went on to say that no inference that was detrimental to human nature could be made from the actions of barbaric or inhumane civilizations.

Grotius enumerated several fundamental principles of natural law, including the following: refraining from taking anything that is another person's property; returning any goods we may possess to them; keeping agreements and keeping our word; making amends for wrongs done to others; and punishing wrongdoers. He believed that more specific and intricate legal regulations were only necessary extensions of these overarching principles.

Grotius described the state as "a complete association of free men, joined together for the enjoyment of rights and for their common interest." It began with a contract, but in most cases the people had given up their right to rule as sovereign to a ruler who had obtained it as a personal privilege and whose decisions were typically unaffected by the law. Nonetheless, the ruler must uphold the fundamentals of both natural law and international law. Generally speaking, his subjects have no right to rebel against him if he abuses his authority. However, Grotius was prepared to acknowledge a right of opposition in very blatant instances of usurpation or gross misuse of authority.

Kant's Perspective

Kant gave modern thinking a new basis which no subsequent philosophy could ignore. The Copernican Turn' which he gave to philosophy was to replace the psychological and empirical method by the critical method by an attempt to base the rational character of life and world not on the observation of facts and matter but on human consciousness itself.

Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason tried to draw a distinction between form and matter. He observed that the impression of our senses is the matter of human experience which are brought into order and shaped by human mind. According to him "the freedom of man act according to his will and the ethical postulates are mutually co-relative because no ethical postulate is possible without man's freedom of self determination". Kant calls substance of ethical postulate as "Categorical Imperative" which is the basis of his moral and legal theory.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte's thought was a pure and unwavering manifestation of transcendental idealism. According to him, the intelligent human ego is and has to be the starting point and focal point of all philosophical thought. Fichte considered the substance of our perceptions and sensations as well as the forms of our cognition as Kant had taught to be the result of our consciousness. "There is no being without consciousness; all being, both egoic and non-egoic, is a certain modality of consciousness." According to Fichte, the non-ego, also known as the word of things, is nothing more than a place where human activity may be directed and where the human will can be used to change and mold the world.

Fichte sees the rational human ego as free in the sense that it has free will, can establish its own objectives, and may achieve them. In other words, human behavior is entirely determined by volition. Nonetheless, because human egos interact with one another, their separate domains of freedom need to be balanced and regulated. Therefore, Ficthe shared Kant's view that the law serves as a tool to ensure that free individuals can cohabit. Every guy owes it to every other man to respect his freedom.

The rational being's self-consciousness is the source of Ficthe's legal philosophy, since no reasonable being is able to think for themselves without attributing the action to themselves. Mutuality requires freedom. The area of mutual personal relationships known as the "legal relation" governs how each individual and the state relate to each other, as well as how their distinct areas of liberty are defined and acknowledged. Fichte notes that it is governed by the following three fundamental principles:

Del Vecchio

George Del Vecchio (1878-1970), an Italian legal philosopher, makes a clear distinction between the idea of law and the ideal of law. He argues that the idea of law is a priori datum, appearing logically before juridical experience. According to him, the first essential feature of law is objective coordination of multiple individuals' actions in accordance with an ethical principle, and the second is bilaterality, imperativeness, and coercibility of multiple individuals' actions in accordance with an ethical principle.

Del Vecchio established a legal theory on substantially the same basis as Stammler, but independently. He was a jurist far more sophisticated and learned than Stammler. His publications demonstrate his professed knowledge of philosophy, history, and law.

Del Vecchio asserts that the concept of law must only be understood in terms of its form since the logical structure of law is more all-encompassing than the collection of court rulings. Law is a juridically neutral concept. It is unable to discriminate between right and unfair laws as well as excellent and poor laws. In addition to being formal, law also has a certain meaning and an underlying ability to be valued. Law is a natural phenomena that has been accumulated throughout time. It is also a manifestation of human liberty, which is nature combined with control and direction. The field of law is experiencing a qualitative shift from being a formless entity to one that is increasingly organized and individualized. The ultimate goal is complete spiritual autonomy.

Even in the face of unintentional errors, the true substance of the classical philosophy of law, juris naturalis scientia, has already received significant confirmations in the positive juridical orders. These include the absolute value of the person, equal liberty of all men, the right of each associate to participate actively in legislation rather than passively, liberty of conscience, and a host of other principles.

Hegel

The philosophical school's most significant thinker was Hegel. He operates under a necrotic system. He said, "The law and the state are both evolutionary." The evolution of the concept of evolution is Hegel's greatest contribution to the philosophical school. He contends that social existence in all its forms, including law, is the result of a dynamic, evolutionary process. The process manifests itself in thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, taking on a dialectical shape. The human spirit establishes a thesis that emerges as the dominant notion of a specific historical period.

According to Hegel, the state and the law are essential to this historical process. He claimed that the goal of the legal system is to actualize the ideal of freedom in all of its outward forms. It is important to note, nevertheless, that freedom did not imply an individual's ability to do as they pleased for Hegel. He believed that a free person is one whose intellect controls his body and who submits to the higher needs of his rational and spiritual self, rather than giving in to his baser instincts, irrational wants, and solely material interests. Hegel warned men to live their lives in accordance with reason and made clear that respecting the rights and personalities of other people was one of reason's fundamental tenets.

Written By: Akanksha Also Read:

• Concepts Of Property, Ownership And Possession