Editing Jurisprudence (section)

===Aristotle===
[[File:(Venice) Aristotele by Francesco Hayez in gallerie Accademia Venice.jpg|thumb|[[Aristotle]], by [[Francesco Hayez]]]]
Aristotle is often said to be the father of natural law.<ref>Shellens, "Aristotle on Natural Law."</ref> Like his philosophical forefathers [[Socrates]] and Plato, Aristotle posited the existence of [[natural justice]] or natural right (''dikaion physikon'', ''δικαίον φυσικόν'', Latin ''[[ius naturale]]''). His association with natural law is largely due to how he was interpreted by [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref>Jaffa, ''Thomism and Aristotelianism''.</ref> This was based on Aquinas' conflation of natural law and natural right, the latter of which Aristotle posits in Book V of the ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' (Book IV of the ''[[Eudemian Ethics]]''). Aquinas's influence was such as to affect a number of early translations of these passages,<ref>H. Rackham, trans., ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Loeb Classical Library; J. A. K. Thomson, trans. (revised by Hugh Tedennick), ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Penguin Classics.</ref> though more recent translations render them more literally.<ref>Joe Sachs, trans., ''Nicomachean Ethics'', Focus Publishing</ref>

Aristotle's theory of justice is bound up in his idea of the [[golden mean (philosophy)|golden mean]]. Indeed, his treatment of what he calls "political justice" derives from his discussion of "the just" as a moral virtue derived as the mean between opposing vices, just like every other virtue he describes.<ref>"Nicomachean Ethics" Bk. II ch. 6</ref> His longest discussion of his theory of justice occurs in ''Nicomachean Ethics'' and begins by asking what sort of mean a just act is. He argues that the term "justice" actually refers to two different but related ideas: general justice and particular justice.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Nicomachean Ethics |edition=2nd |translator-last=Irwin |translator-first=Terrence}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">''Nicomachean Ethics'', Bk. V, ch. 3</ref> When a person's actions toward others are completely virtuous in all matters, Aristotle calls them "just" in the sense of "general justice"; as such, this idea of justice is more or less coextensive with virtue.<ref>"Nicomachean Ethics", Bk. V, ch. 1</ref> "Particular" or "partial justice", by contrast, is the part of "general justice" or the individual virtue that is concerned with treating others equitably.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Aristotle moves from this unqualified discussion of justice to a qualified view of political justice, by which he means something close to the subject of modern jurisprudence. Of political justice, Aristotle argues that it is partly derived from nature and partly a matter of convention.<ref>''Nicomachean Ethics'', Bk. V, ch. 7.</ref> This can be taken as a statement that is similar to the views of modern natural law theorists. But it must also be remembered that Aristotle is describing a view of morality, not a system of law, and therefore his remarks as to nature are about the grounding of the morality enacted as law, not the laws themselves.

The best evidence of Aristotle's having thought there was a natural law comes from the ''[[Rhetoric (Aristotle)|Rhetoric]]'', where Aristotle notes that, aside from the "particular" laws that each people has set up for itself, there is a "common" law that is according to nature.<ref>''Rhetoric'' 1373b2–8.</ref> The context of this remark, however, suggests only that Aristotle thought that it could be rhetorically advantageous to appeal to such a law, especially when the "particular" law of one's own city was adverse to the case being made, not that there actually was such a law.<ref>Shellens, "Aristotle on Natural Law", 75–81</ref> Aristotle, moreover, considered certain candidates for a universally valid, natural law to be wrong.<ref>"Natural Law", ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences''.</ref> Aristotle's theoretical paternity of the natural law tradition is consequently disputed.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/2105/Greek-Theory-of-Natural-Law.html |title = Greek Theory of Natural Law}}</ref>