The Journal of Natural Law exists to restore and advance a tradition that shaped Western moral and political thought for more than a millennium.
For over a thousand years the principles of natural law informed how we understand human rights, legal authority, just war, sound economy, and the law of nations. This journal is devoted to developing that inheritance and carrying it forward, in the conviction that what once shaped a civilization has not spent its force.
Because the tradition spans philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence, the journal is interdisciplinary by necessity. Because its reach is global, the journal is international in scope, though it publishes exclusively in English. It treats natural law as a living moral theory, one that recovers its history without reducing that history to a relic.
“Law is the supreme rational principle, implanted in nature, which commands what must be done and forbids the opposite.”
— Cicero, De Legibus
It is a broad tradition, its internal debates running for centuries alongside searching criticism from without. The Journal of Natural Law gathers those varied threads in one place, positive and negative, rather than serving as a mouthpiece for any faction. Our aim is to be the preeminent resource for everyone engaged in natural law thought, and the venue where its renewal is carried out.
What we publish
The journal carries three kinds of work, all in English and all subject to peer review.
- Articles. Full-length scholarship in the natural law tradition across philosophy, theology, and jurisprudence. Articles run from 4,500 to 15,000 words, excluding notes and references, with a preference for work under 8,000.
- Peer responses. Brief replies of about 1,500 words that engage a published article, printed alongside the work they address to quicken the exchange.
- Case studies. A standing session for sustained moral analysis of particular questions, where natural law reasoning is brought to bear on a concrete problem.
How we review
Articles are reviewed double-anonymized: neither author nor reviewer learns the other’s identity. Responses and comments are reviewed single-anonymized. The standards we hold to, and ask of authors and reviewers, are set out in full on the Publication Ethics page, and the review process itself is described under Peer Review.
Who publishes the journal
The Journal of Natural Law is published by The Catholic University of America Press and hosted on Project MUSE. It is led by its editor with the guidance of an editorial board of scholars whose work has shaped the tradition; the full masthead appears on the Editorial Board page. The journal is not open access. Terms governing copyright and self-archiving are stated on the Copyright page.
Ready to submit? See the Author Guidelines, then use the submission form.
Journal policies
Aims & Scope · Author Guidelines · Peer Review · Publication Ethics · Copyright · Privacy · Editorial Board · Reviewer Guidelines