NOTES ON THE STUDY OF LAW IN THE CLASSICAL ERA integration between the natural and the positive in Plato and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Abstract

A perennial problem of Legal Philosophy, the relationship between Natural Law and Positive Law often are the object of disjunctive interpretations. The legal positivist view of famous separation thesis of Law and Morals predominates at universities, while authors of natural law do not properly interpretate legal positivism as well. However, there is a research gap: it’s important to address a new relationship’s perspective, from the origins of that key question. Based on the doctrines of Plato and Saint Thomas Aquinas, this article intends to revisit the problem by an introductory exam of natural justice and positive law’s relationship. The investigation focuses the early of Antiquity and late of Middle Ages whose time period encompasses the construction of Western canon. The research used bibliographic and dialectical methods. The results show that Natural Law and Positive Law must be articulated. Therefore, a great deal of attention must be paid about the pointing out of central theme’s interpretative keys, in the sense to overcome the excluding dichotomy that exists in discussions involving legal naturalism and legal positivism. Additional research about this topic could also explore and enrich this analysis.