As natural law is not self-enforcing and must be promulgated either in legislative statute or by court decisions, one asks, when was this first observed? In other words, what was the earliest example of positive law built upon the natural law. My deep examination of the role of the steward resulted in the building of a timeline that stretches from approximately 9500 BCE through today. This timeline happens to capture the history of law giving.
The earliest written positive law (big point, it being written, thus making it positive law) was recorded approximately in 2350 BCE by scribes working for the then Sumerian King Urukagina. His “Reforms” predate all other written law (e.g. Ur-namma (ca. 2112-2095 BCE), Lipit-Ishtar (ca. 1943-1924 BCE), and Hammurabi (ca. 1792-1750 BCE)).
The question that remains, however, is whether these laws rose reflect a moral basis, or only a legitimate political process – i.e., natural law versus positivism law.
As Ray Westbrook discusses in his tome “Law from the Tigris to the Tiber” (Chapter 7) Urukagina’s Reforms are the first written form of “social justice.” As Westbrook explains, “Social justice was conceived rather as protecting the weaker strata of society from being unfairly deprived of their due: the legal status, property rights, and economic condition to which their position on the hierarchical ladder entitled them.”
This suggests that the “first” law rose from a moral basis, not a procedural one – confirming the argument that positive laws that first structured government were natural law, not positivism.
As natural law is not self-enforcing and must be promulgated either in legislative statute or by court decisions, one asks, when was this first observed? In other words, what was the earliest example of positive law built upon the natural law. My deep examination of the role of the steward resulted in the building of a timeline that stretches from approximately 9500 BCE through today. This timeline happens to capture the history of law giving.
The earliest written positive law (big point, it being written, thus making it positive law) was recorded approximately in 2350 BCE by scribes working for the then Sumerian King Urukagina. His “Reforms” predate all other written law (e.g. Ur-namma (ca. 2112-2095 BCE), Lipit-Ishtar (ca. 1943-1924 BCE), and Hammurabi (ca. 1792-1750 BCE)).
The question that remains, however, is whether these laws rose reflect a moral basis, or only a legitimate political process – i.e., natural law versus positivism law.
As Ray Westbrook discusses in his tome “Law from the Tigris to the Tiber” (Chapter 7) Urukagina’s Reforms are the first written form of “social justice.” As Westbrook explains, “Social justice was conceived rather as protecting the weaker strata of society from being unfairly deprived of their due: the legal status, property rights, and economic condition to which their position on the hierarchical ladder entitled them.”
This suggests that the “first” law rose from a moral basis, not a procedural one – confirming the argument that positive laws that first structured government were natural law, not positivism.
Some basics from a Jewish perspective:
https://www.feldheim.com/the-elucidated-derech-hashem