Ministers of the Law: A Natural Law Theory of Legal Authority

In Ministers of the Law Jean Porter articulates a theory of legal authority derived from the natural law tradition. As she points out, the legal authority of most traditions rests on their own internal structures, independent of extralegal considerations -- legal houses built on sand, as it were. Natural law tradition, on the other hand, offers a basis for legal authority that goes beyond mere arbitrary commands or social conventions, offering some extralegal authority without compromising the independence and integrity of the law.

Yet Porter does more in this volume than simply discuss historical and theoretical realms of natural law. She carries the theory into application to contemporary legal issues, bringing objective normative structures to contemporary Western societies suspicious of such concepts.

Author: Jean Porter
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Published: 10/01/2010
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780802865632

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2011 pg. 14

About the Author
Porter, Jean: - Jean Porter is John A. O'Brien Professor of Theology at theUniversity of Notre Dame. Her books include Natural andDivine Law and Nature as Reason.

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