Ave Maria School of Law affirms the Catholic legal education’s traditional emphasis on the only secure foundation for human freedom – the natural law written on the heart of every human being. It affirms the need for society to rediscover those human and moral truths that flow from the nature of the human person and that safeguard human freedom.
Ave Maria School of Law recognizes that all areas of legal practice, both public and private, serve the common good. Some graduates will serve the profession in private practice, while others will serve in legal aid organizations or in other areas of public service, in the academy, and in business.
The Ave Maria community of faculty, administrators, mentors, students, alumni, and staff is based on the inherent dignity of every human being stemming from our creation in the image and likeness of God and raised to a new level by our redemption by Jesus Christ. In recognition of the dignity of all, this community welcomes people of all faiths who wish to receive the education we provide and to join with us in our dedication to the truth.
Natural law is a philosophy asserting that certain rights are inherent by virtue of human nature, endowed by nature—traditionally by God or a transcendent source—and that these can be understood universally through human reason. As determined by nature, the law of nature is implied to be universal, existing independently of the positive law of a given state, political order, legislature or society at large.
Historically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature to deduce binding rules of moral behavior from nature's or God's creation of reality and mankind. The concept of natural law was first documented in ancient Greek philosophy, including Aristotle, and was referred to in Roman philosophy by Cicero. It was then alluded to in the Bible, from which it was subsequently developed in the Middle Ages by Catholic philosophers such as Albert the Great, and Thomas Aquinas. In the Renaissance, notably the School of Salamanca further contributed. During the Age of Enlightenment, modern era natural law theories were further developed, combining inspiration from Roman law, and alongside philosophies like social contract theory.
It featured greatly in the works of Alberico Gentili, Francisco Suárez, Richard Hooker, Thomas Hobbes, Hugo Grotius, Samuel von Pufendorf, Matthew Hale, John Locke, Francis Hutcheson, Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, Emmerich de Vattel, Cesare Beccaria and Francesco Mario Pagano. It was used to challenge the divine right of kings, and became an alternative justification for the establishment of a social contract, positive law, and government—and thus legal rights—in the form of classical republicanism. Conversely, the concept of natural rights is used by others to challenge the legitimacy of all such establishments. Natural law description sourced from Wikipedia.