July-December 2015
ISSN 2050-005X (Online); 978-1514857861 (ISBN-13); 1514857863 (ISBN-10)
This paper addresses a frequent omission in the contemporary discussion of Natural Law Theory; it is often the case that when addressing it, academics and jurists focus on Fuller or Dworkin, and sometimes progress as far back as Aquinas, but seldom are the true roots of Natural Law Theory pursued. This paper offers the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero, expounding upon the great Roman lawyer’s role in the trajectory and development of Natural Law Theory (which is arguably the foundation for the existence of all Western democracies and Republics). This paper argues that Cicero’s victory in the trial known as In Verrem changed the course of jurisprudential history due to the rise of the Cicero as a result of said victory, which permitted him to significantly influence Roman republican jurisprudence. Germaine to this paper’s conclusion is the illustration of a nexus between modern Natural Law incarnations and the postulations of Cicero. In order to demonstrate that Cicero should be credited with the crafting of the first Natural Law Theory (in the systemic sense of the word theory), this discussion also incorporates an effort to identify similitude, or a cause-effect relationship, between Cicero’s Natural Law Theory and its more modern forms.
Keywords: Jurisprudence, Legal History, Natural Law Theory, Roman Jurisprudence.
2 See Hart, H. L. A. “Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals” [Feb. 1958] Harv. L. Rev., Vol. 71, No. 4, 593-629, See also Fuller, Lon L. “Positivism and Fidelity to Law — A Reply to Professor Hart” [Feb. 1958] Harv. L. Rev. Vol. 71, No. 4, 630-672.
3 Velleius Paterculus, The Roman History, trans. J. C. Yardley and Anthony A. Barrett (Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publishing, 2011), 19; See Generally Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic , trans. Rex Warner (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1972) 311-361.
4 George Anastaplo, “The Constitution at Two Hundred: Explorations” [1991] 22 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 967, 978.
5 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D.H. Berry (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2006) xii-xxx.
6 Id.
7 Id.
8 “Roman Republic”, <www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Roman_Republic.html> accessed 6 October 2014.
9 Id.
10 Though it is worth noting that the women of the middle and upper classes did enjoy some legal protections to their person and status.
11 Id.
12 “How Rome Was Governed”, <www.historylearningsite.co.uk/how_was_rome_governed.html> accessed 6 October 2014; See also <www.ancienthistory.about.com/od/romerepublic/qt/052611-How-the-Romans-Voted-in-the-Roman-Republic.html> accessed 6 October 2014.
13 Id.
14 Id.
15 Such governorships were often very lucrative, and therefore rather successful at luring outgoing Consuls away from Rome immediately following their term.
16 Id.
17 Id.
18 Id.
19 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D.H. Berry (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2006) xii-xxx; See also Gaius Julius Caesar, The Civil War, trans. John Carter (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008) viii-xlix.
20 Id.
21 Id.
22 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D.H. Berry (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2006) xii-xxx.
23 Id.
24 Id.
25 “In Verres, Cicero”, www.law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/verres/verrescicero.html accessed November 8 2014.
26 Id.
27 See generally id.
28 “In Verres, Cicero”, www.law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/verres/verrescicero.html accessed November 8 2014.
29 Id.
30 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D.H. Berry (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2006) xii-xxx.
31 Id.
32 Id.
33 Id.
34 “In Verres, Cicero”, www.law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/verres/verrescicero.html accessed November 8 2014.
35 Id.
36 Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Republic and The Laws, trans. Niall Rudd (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008) x-xxxi.
37 Marcus Tullius Cicero, Political Speeches, trans. D.H Berry (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2006) xii-xxx.
38 Id.
39 Id.
40 Id.
41 Id.
42 Id.
43 Id.
44 Id.
45 Id.
46 Id.
47 Id.
48 Id.
49 Id.
50 Kevin F. Ryan, Esq., “We Hold These Truths” [Winter 2005-2006] Vt. B.J., at 9, 11.
51 Ibid., citing Benjamin Fletcher Wright, Jr., American Interpretations of Natural Law: A Study in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge Mass: Harvard University Press, 1931).
52 Id.
53 Douglas Sturm, “Lon Fuller’s Multidimensional Natural Law Theory” [1966] 18 Stan. L. Rev. 612, 613.
54 Louis W. Hensler III, “A Modest Reading of St. Thomas Aquinas on the Connection Between Natural Law and Human Law” [2009] 43 Creighton L. Rev. 153.
55 Kirk A. Kennedy, “Reaffirming the Natural Law Jurisprudence of Justice Clarence Thomas” [1997] 9 Regent U. L. Rev. 33, 41.
56 Id.
57 Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Republic and The Laws, trans. Niall Rudd (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008) x-xxxi.
58 Id. at 103.
59 Id.
60 Id. at 112.
61 Id. at 124.
62 Marcus Tullius Cicero, On The Nature of The Gods, Divination, Fate, The Republic, Laws Et Cetera, trans. C.D. Yonge (London, England: George Bell and Sons 1878) 417.
63 Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Republic and The Laws, trans. Niall Rudd (New York, NY: Oxford University Press Inc., 2008) 68-69.
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1 JD and International Law Certificate, Florida Coastal School of Law; undergraduate degree in International Relations from The Latin University of Costa Rica.
(2015). In Verrem: The Case That Changed the Course of Jurisprudential History. Legal issues Journal, 3 (2), https://www.legalissuesjournal.com/article/03-02-14072015/
