The .14-17 Century European Natural Law Thinking, Research,

In Europe, from the 14^th to 17^th century, the modern"state"was gestated and evolved. The natural law theory about modern state prevailed considerably in this period. Researching into the relations between the natural law thoughts and the modern state theory could be besteaded faintly to reproduce the social culture and the political circumstance in the early modern Europe, and to understand the humanism political thinker's rationality construction about the early modern state.In this discourse, the author considered that there was a stability and long-past origin in historical tradition and a profundity and realistic context in social culture. Since the ancient Greece, the natural law theory was always a characteristic content in the history of west political thought. The relation among the person, the society and the nature is the focus that the thinkers had thought much of. Researching into the origin of state and its operating modes was the thinkers'unfailing theme. The Aristotelism, the Stoicism and the rational spirit of Roman law are invaluable heritages of the classical culture. After the 14th century, the spread and inherit of the classical culture stimulated or promoted the social revolutions of the Europe, the civil society and the early modern state gestated and evolved. The reformations promoted the spread and inherit of the classical pith further more, and so, the medieval theological natural law evolved into modern secular and rationalistic natural law. Some humanism political thinkers accommodated to the requirement of the era, and accepted and developed the traditional natural law theory, after arduous theoretical exploration they constructed variety distinctive natural law systems, and made much multi-dimension and profound theoretical demonstration.Under the impulse of the new production and life style, the strong and hard Christian Church began to break up, and metamorphosed into the pure spiritual entity, a series of independent and autonomic nation-state came forth in Europe. But the decline of the feudal force was not its own wishful thinking in the least. In order to get more advantageous life and developmental space, the new citizen ranks took upon themselves to raise the theoretical banner of legitimacy. On the one hand, they demonstrated zealously the legitimacy of the origin and powers of the state, and gave support to the growing kingship in theory. On the other hand, in order to prevent the autarchical majesty from trespassing on the citizenship, it must constructed rationality state power system. Sovereignty is the center element and important character. The ascription of the sovereignty manipulates the different forms of the operation of the state power. Meanwhile, the natural law theory exerted a pivotal function in regulation and construction. As far as this text was concerned, the final function of the natural law was to demonstrate the modern state's legitimacy in the international law.