Many authors believe that some norms are accepted by the state, while others arose on their own. That is, there is a natural and positive law. It is believed that the natural should include the right to life, to equality and so on - that is, those rights that are given to man by nature. They are natural, which means that the state cannot encroach on them.
The theory of natural law says that the law created by the state is derivative to that which follows from human nature itself. Positive law - these are the rules that have been established by the state. They can only be recognized if they do not contradict the norms of natural law .
Positivism is one of the areas of jurisprudence. In this case, the emphasis is on the verbal-symbolic form of the existence of law. Only fixed norms are taken into account, that is, it is important with what they are expressed (their form).
Positive law - institutional education. It exists in the form of external institutions (objectified), norms that are expressed in laws and so on.
Positive law has a lot of negative and positive potentialities. Perhaps his main advantage lies in the fact that this right is the most effective regulatory and value regulator. It helps to control the behavior of people in society. This regulator has not only a normative, but also a value character. This statement is based on the fact that law, entering the life of people, becomes part of it. Normative principles help to assess individual life phenomena, it is they who divide people's actions into permissible and unacceptable.
Positive law is guaranteed by the state. The fact is that it is guaranteed, and non-compliance with the norms becomes the cause of sanctions. The coercive power possessed by the state helps restore order in society, eliminate self-will, as well as arbitrariness.
Positive law differs from natural law in many ways. Here are the main differences:
- Natural law is connected with the natural order of things. It's about human nature and the universe in general. Natural law is part of the world order. Positive law is something artificial. The creator in this case is precisely the person. All this leads to the fact that its norms may even contradict the norms of the world order.
- Natural law is connected with universal existence, positive - with a specific state.
- Positive law arose when the state arose. Natural has always been.
- The norms of natural law are not always expressed in writing, as they can exist in legal customs, traditions and so on.
- Natural law, in contrast to the positive, is not identical with the current legislation. His goal is supreme justice, not the interests of states.
- Positive law, unlike natural law, does not have rules that could be justified by religion or ethics. They are connected only with the will of the state.
What is bad about positive law? First of all, by the fact that its norms can be unfair. At all times, there has been a tendency to enslave the people. This, of course, is not about direct, but namely about indirect slavery. The state imposes on society those rules and orders that are necessary only to it. For this reason, people are often infringed on their rights. Often the current standards are unfair, inhumane, beneficial only to people who have power and seek to maintain this power. In many cases, they ensure the well-being of some by infringing on others. The whole snag is that all the norms of positive law are binding.