Natural Law and International Law in Edmund Burke

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Abstract
Among the many discussions stirred by recent searchings after the source and substance of a conservative tradition has been that of the place of natural law in the thought of Edmund Burke. One view which has received renewed emphasis is that Burke's natural law is essentially Thomistic. Those who support this view frequently cite Burke's many references to “the law of nations and of nature.” The purpose of this paper is to show, by particular reference to the subject of international law, that it is misleading to place Burke in the older natural law tradition. In ideas as well as in time, he stands more nearly at a mid-point between that tradition and the positivist approach to law. Revelation and the interpretive aid of a Universal Church, which were crucial to the traditional concept of natural law, do not play a similar role in Burke's thought. The same meaning, therefore, cannot be attributed to his references to the natural law.

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