Abstract

This chapter elaborates the natural law positions of influential jurists, mainly Grotius, Pufendorf, Blackstone, and Joseph Story. Grotius and Pufendorf, who pioneered the rationalistic approach to law of nature, brought these ideas into in international law and civil law systems. Blackstone and Story articulated natural law ideas within Anglo-American common law systems. The analysis shows how leading jurisprudents identified natural law with God’s command, and construed its relationship to state law in a way that served to legitimate the legal system and maintain the hierarchical ordering of society. It also reveals how natural law ideas were invoked publicly in defense of slavery in the American South and how the common law subordinated women.