Natural Law Principles and Human Rights Evolution

The Concept of Iusnaturalismo

Iusnaturalismo is a legal doctrine that interprets rights based on the existence of natural law. It possesses several distinct features:

• Universal: It must be abided by the whole human race. Unlike positive law, which only requires those with authority to be under the promulgated rules.
• Immutable: These laws do not vary. In contrast, the rules of positive law are variable because they change as authorities come and go.
• Fundamental: They serve as the foundation of positive law and provide necessary limitations.
• Theocentric Natural Law: This view posits a universal creator, God.
• Naturalist: This perspective does not justify the belief in God as the source.

Problems of Natural Law

Whether natural rights stem from the existence of God is difficult to establish. Religious confessions and the support of people such as atheists might argue they do not respect natural rights because they consider them poorly founded. However, if the right is based on reason, these problems do not disappear, but they change. It is difficult to explain how to grasp these rights; natural law pursues a common good, but it is difficult to decide what that end is.

19th-Century Liberalism and Human Rights

Once the Old Regime was liquidated, the bourgeoisie transitioned from being subjects to citizens. Accessing political power was the target of the bourgeois class, providing the momentum to achieve equal rights for all citizens. The inclusion of rights in constitutions succeeded throughout the 19th century, though positivism did not recognize natural law. The 19th-century liberal state followed the principle of minimum intervention, promulgating only the rules necessary for securing the right to formal equality, property, and public order. It intervened only in areas where private initiative did not reach. During this period, the state's inhibition in relations between individuals produced formal freedom, but equality before the law did not ensure actual equality of rights.

Constitutionalism and Internationalization

The Role of the Constitution

The formal recognition of human rights within the Constitution was a tax law step toward real application.

Internationalization of Rights

This occurred at the end of the Second World War. Its characteristics include:

• International treaties signed by a state become part of domestic law and can be utilized.
• Public international law allows a state to compel others to respect the human rights recognized in a treaty.