Aristotle's association with natural law may be due to Thomas Aquinas's interpretation of his work. But whether Aquinas correctly read Aristotle is in dispute. According to some, Aquinas conflates natural law and natural right, the latter of which Aristotle posits in Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics (Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics). According to this interpretation, Aquinas's influence was such as to affect a number of early translations of these passages in an unfortunate manner, though more recent translations render them more literally. Aristotle notes that natural justice is a species of political justice, specifically the scheme of distributive and corrective justice that would be established under the best political community; if this took the form of law, it could be called a natural law, though Aristotle does not discuss this and suggests in the Politics that the best regime may not rule by law at all.
Aristotle's association with natural law may be due to Thomas Aquinas's interpretation of his work. But whether Aquinas correctly read Aristotle is in dispute. According to some, Aquinas conflates natural law and natural right, the latter of which Aristotle posits in Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics (Book IV of the Eudemian Ethics). According to this interpretation, Aquinas's influence was such as to affect a number of early translations of these passages in an unfortunate manner, though more recent translations render them more literally. Aristotl,e notes that natural justice is a species of political justice specifically the scheme of distributive and corrective justice that would be established under the best political community; if this took the form of law, it could be called a natural law, though Aristotle does not discuss this and suggests in the Politics that the best regime may not rule by law at all.