Positive law

Positive law (lat. ius positum) is the term generally used to describe man-made laws which bestow specific privileges upon, or remove them from, an individual or group. This term is in contrast to "natural law", which comprises inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by "God, nature or reason."

Positive law is also described as the law that applies at a certain time (present or past) at a certain place, consisting of statutory law, and case law as far as it is binding. More specifically, positive law may be characterized as "[l]aw actually and specifically enacted or adopted by proper authority for the government of an organized jural society."

This term is also sometimes used to refer to the legal philosophy legal positivism, as distinct from the schools of natural law and legal realism. In this sense, the term is often used in relation to the United States Code, portions of which restate acts of Congress (i.e., positive law), while other portions have themselves been enacted and are thus positive law.

With respect to the broader sense, various philosophers have put forward theories contrasting the value of positive law relative to natural law. The normative theory of law, as put forth by the Brno school, gave pre-eminence to positive law because of its rational nature. Classical liberal and libertarian philosophers usually favor natural law over legal positivism. Positive law, to French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, was freedom from internal obstacles.

See also

• Legal positivism
• Legal Naturalism
• Man-made law
• Natural law
• François Gény (1861-1959), French jurist who introduced notion of "free scientific research" in positive law.

References

• Kelsen, Hans. General Theory of Law And State. The Lawbook Exchange, 2007.