The Christian's Idea Of Natural Right And Controversy In Western Europe In The Ages From 12^th To 14^th Century

The idea of natural right is first found in Gratian's Decretum and the decretists' comment on it in the twelfth-century. The context of this period can not be overlooked for the appearance of this idea:the dualism political power structure provides a political hotbed; the Recovery of Roman Law breaks through the shackles of the traditional common law in the western Europe, and adjusts to the needs of the development of the history. As part of the Recovery of Roman Law, Gratian's Decretum appeared; With the rise of cities, the corporate life is flourished and there is a new scene for people to breathe freely. With the Recovery of Roman Law and the rise of cities, the universities began to be established around the twelfth-century, which become the carrier of canonists' ideology. Under such historical context, personal consciousness begins to bud and develop gradually. And canonists pay much attention to the idea of natural right. It should be noted that the old Greek natural law, the Roman Law and early Christian doctrines have great influence on the appearance of natural right which could not be created out of nothing,The idea of natural right is first put forward by the Christian churchmen. Seen from the semantics transition of the term-ius, it aquires its subjective sense from the work of Decretum. Then, the decretists follow and emphasize the subjective sense of ius. In the thirteenth-century, following the footprint of the twelfth century, Henry continues to present the idea of natural right by discussing the extreme poor and the condemned criminal's natural right. In the fourteenth-century, Marsilius of Padua distinguishes the subjective and objective sense of ius. And then William of Ockham makes a distinction between positive right and natural right. Hence, the idea of natural right has been developed to a mature stage. The idea of natural right in the period of twelfth to fourteen century has been appeared and developed a lot, which lays a foundation for the development of the right theory in the modern time. Gerson links the right theory between middle ages and modern time. In the modern time, the idea of natural right has been fully developed, which has been put into actual practice. The idea of natural right reaches its peak in the period of Hobbes and Locke. Both of them put forward a political theory according to the idea of natural right. But the idea of natural right in the middle ages is in a initial phase, which has not been developed into a complete theory but only some fragmentary ideas. The idea of natural right is heavily weighed by religious considerations. What's more, the idea of natural right is one kind of ideal thought as a whole, which has merely not been put into practice.