Includes bibliographical references (pages 465-477) and index.
Contents:
History of the natural law : philosophical origins and underpinnings -- The natural law : from the desk to the bench -- The natural law emigrates to the new world -- Natural law arguments in colonial caselaw -- The founders, naturally and conventionally -- Ratification : it plays in Philadelphia, but will it play in Providence? -- The bill comes due -- Expansion and contraction : potencia abhorret vacuum -- Threats foreign and domestic, and the emergence of the democraticrepublicans -- The early Supreme Court and the natural law tradition -- Legal positivism begins to take hold -- Interest returns after a century of legal positivism -- Early modern natural law theory and new positivism -- Natural law and civil rights -- The treatment of the institution of slavery under natural law -- Contemporary natural law theorists -- A tale of two originalists -- The sisyphean journey of natural law in American courts in the nineteenth century -- The natural reasoning behind due process -- Judicial confrontations of natural law theory -- Limiting the role of positive law : criminalizing only acts which produce palpable harm.
Summary:
"This is a comprehensive study of the natural law tradition in American constitutional history"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.