one is enacting the law he will live by. When one considers
transgressing the laws he has determined to be right or wrong,
conscience comes into play. Conscience is the enforcer. In fact,
when the conscience prevails, the law is not broken; if the law is
broken and the conscience is truly touched, the law will probably
not be broken again. If, indeed, the divine or moral law is broken
routinely, and the conscience never prevails, or is never suffi
ciently touched to prevent a reoccurrence, then for that person,
there is no moral or divine law.
Natural law is law which its adherents contend is universally
valid, is discoverable through reason, is a “higher law,” and
violations are thwarted by the censure of reasonable men or
sometimes by nature itself. Aristotle defined it as the under
standing that a “thing must fulfill the essence of it’s being.” From
this he concluded that for man to be man, he must be rational,
since reason is the essence of man. Hobbes saw self-preservation
as a natural law, justifying man’s contract with the state for
protection. Such concepts as justice, private property, permis
sible sexual activity, equality, and liberty have their basis in
natural law.
The law which is enacted and enforced by the state is called
political law. Simply stated, political law is a set of rules for the
guiding of human conduct, enacted by a legal body, enforced by
the state, with prescribed punishments for its violation. Within
this context there are two types of political law, substantive law
and procedural law.
Substantive law is law which bestows, enhances, or actually
creates, a right. Those basic rights which we enjoy under law
such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion, are examples
of substantive law. Procedural laws are those laws which deal
with the process of securing, defending, enforcing, and dealing
with citizen’s rights. The right to due process is a substantive
law, the particulars of how due process is carried out is proce
dural law. Usually substantive law has its basis in moral, natural,
or divine premises which are considered essential to the citizen/
citizen and citizen/state relationship. Procedural laws are often
arbitrary laws which set speed limits, drinking ages, voting ages,
and other rules which are not basic to the citizen/state relation
ship, but are practically necessary.
All the laws of a state, whether substantive or procedural,
120 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State