what is natural law 
natural law is a theory in ethics and philosophy that says that human beings possess intrinsic values that govern their reasoning and behavior natural law maintains that these rules of right and wrong are inherent in people and are not created by society or court judges understanding natural lawnatural law holds that there are universal moral standards that are inherent in humankind throughout all time and these standards should form the basis of a just society human beings are not taught natural law per se instead we discover it by consistently making choices for good instead of evil some schools of thought believe that natural law is passed to humans via a divine presence under the theory of natural law everyone regardless of their governmental or political system culture or religion has the same rights and these rights cannot be denied by others the birthrights granted to humans under natural law however are not the same as human rights which vary and can change depending on societal views for example a human right in the united states is equal pay for equal work however in other countries it is not although natural law mainly applies to the realm of ethics and philosophy it is also used extensively in theoretical economics natural law vs positive lawthe theory of natural law believes that our civil laws should be based on morality ethics and what is inherently correct this is in contrast to what is called positive law or human law which is defined by statute and common law and may or may not reflect the natural law examples of positive law include rules such as the speed at which individuals are allowed to drive on the highway and the age at which individuals can legally purchase alcohol ideally when drafting positive laws governing bodies would base them on their sense of natural law natural laws are inherent in us as human beings positive laws are created by us in the context of society examples of natural lawexamples of natural law abound but philosophers and theologians throughout history have differed in their interpretations of this doctrine theoretically the precepts of natural law should be constant throughout time and across the globe because natural law is based on human nature not on culture or customs 