This course examines the relationship between law and justice, discusses the historical development of natural law and statutory law and the importance of their harmonization, and explores legal challenges and solutions in contemporary society.
The relationship between law and justice is one of the classic problems of jurisprudence. Laws are the rules that govern society and are the basis of order, and justice is the ultimate value that these laws should strive for. It is natural to think of just and moral laws that are universally accepted by everyone, regardless of time and place. Traditionally, such laws have been referred to and discussed as “natural law”. Natural law is not artificially enacted, but rather is something intrinsic that precedes human experience and is rooted in divine law, the order of the universe, or human nature. In particular, human nature’s inherent capacity for reason, or the unique human ability to discern between true and false, good and evil, provides the means by which natural law can be discovered.
Western medieval theology emphasized religious authority by understanding natural law as divine law inscribed in human reason. Medieval theologians saw the will of God and human reason as being in harmony. Later, modern natural law thought broke away from the dependence on theology and saw natural law as something that could be verified by reason alone. Grotius (1583-1645), who can be said to have pioneered this trend, embraced the medieval tradition, but firmly grounded natural law in human reason. He argued that the norms of law ascertained through reason and consistent with human nature are both natural law and the will of God, and that this natural law is intrinsic and unalterable, even by God. Natural law, which is reached through the proper guidance of reason, is a norm that transcends the state and the laws of the land.
Grotius’s time was marked by religious wars, and he saw that no law was being respected in this maelstrom, and he believed that natural law could be used to establish norms that could be accepted by Catholics, Protestants, and non-Christians alike. Furthermore, he believed that these principles of law could regulate the interests of nations, preventing the devastation of war and realizing peace and prosperity for mankind. His ideas culminated in the 1625 publication of 전쟁과 The 법이란 of Peace. In this book, he discussed the requirements for opening a war, the conduct to be observed during war, and laid the foundation for the concept of natural law as a theoretical basis, and based on that, he constructed a legal theory to regulate the relationship between states. For this reason, Grotius is also called the father of international law.
The law of reason, independent of divine authority, with human rights at its core, became the main ideological background of modern society. For example, the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 was influenced by natural law. Furthermore, the Declaration of Human Rights during the French Revolution proclaimed the right to liberty, ownership, survival, and resistance as inviolable natural law rights. Natural law ideas thus provided an important foundation for the modern legal system, particularly in ensuring that the values of liberty and equality were closely linked to the law.
However, in the 19th century, natural law thought tended to decline in the face of criticism that natural law was difficult to define in practice. A new theory that emerged at the forefront of this criticism was legal positivism. Legal positivism holds that only de facto laws, which are laws that are enacted by a country’s legislative body and have real-world effects, can be recognized as law. According to this theory, laws enacted by legislators through a legitimate process become absolute law, regardless of their content, and people are obligated to follow them because they are based on state authority. Positivism emphasizes the objectivity and certainty of the law and sees it as playing an essential role in maintaining social order.
In the modern era, however, the discussion of natural law experienced a revival in the wake of the devastating world wars, which were characterized by totalitarianism under the guise of legality. After World War II, international tribunals such as the Nuremberg Trials emphasized the natural law approach by pointing out the limitations of statutory law. This was part of an effort to protect fundamental human rights and realize humanitarian values. Today, natural law is still recognized for its role in providing an ideal to which the rule of law should aspire. In addition, the modern, globalized world has given rise to a variety of examples that have caused us to rethink the relationship between law and justice. New challenges, such as environmental issues, human rights issues, and digital rights, are forcing us to re-examine the nature of law and its relationship to justice. This becomes even more important as the international community works together to create common norms.
Thus, establishing a harmonious relationship between natural law and statutory law remains an important challenge, and achieving a more just and peaceful society is an important goal of modern jurisprudence. Building on the wisdom of past thinkers, today we need to reconceptualize and develop the relationship between law and justice. To this end, legal scholars should continue to explore the nature and function of law through various disciplinary approaches and contribute to building a better legal system.
The relationship between law and justice in modern society is not just a theoretical discussion. In practice, legal problems are manifesting themselves in various forms throughout society, and the harmonization of law and justice plays an important role in finding solutions to them. For example, recent technological advances are creating new legal challenges. Advances in artificial intelligence, big data, and biotechnology are creating new problems that cannot be adequately addressed by existing legal systems. In this context, legal scholars need to develop legal principles and norms that can respond to new technological challenges.
In addition, the integration of the global economy and the expansion of international exchanges have further emphasized the importance of international law. The international community is making various efforts to ensure that national legal systems operate in harmony with each other. To this end, efforts are being made to establish common legal standards in cooperation with international organizations to solve legal problems on a global scale.
The relationship between law and justice is constantly evolving as times and societies change. Therefore, jurists and lawyers will need to proactively respond to these changes and continue to strive to create a society where law and justice are in harmony. This will be the first step toward a more just and peaceful world.
