higher law
Divine ethical standard
Higher law is a moral or divine principle believed to supersede human-made laws.
The concept holds that some rights or duties exist independent of what governments decree, and that unjust laws may be legitimately resisted: She appealed to a higher law than the Constitution.
The term appears in arguments about civil disobedience, natural rights, and religious conscience—the idea that earthly authority isn't the final authority.
- natural rightsFreedoms inherent to personhood
- God's willDivine intention or decree
- moral compassInner ethical guidance system
- constitutionInherent physical or structural makeup
- civil rightsGuaranteed individual legal protections
inalienable · self-evident truths · founding fathers · conscience · transcendent · justice · eternal · eternal truths · God-given · Ten Commandments · unwritten · sovereign · Thoreau · civil disobedience · fundamental · sacred · universal · rights
- TranscendentalismTranscendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Walden Pond
- moral philosophymoral philosophy, moral judgment, moral reasoning, moral principles, moral conduct
- constitutionsbill of rights, constitutional amendment, constitutional reform, clause, clauses
- ThoreauWalden, Walden Pond, civil disobedience, transcendentalism, Concord
higher lawhuman law
Rules enacted by society
statutory law · civil law · state law · secular law · written law
higher lawmoral relativism
Values vary by context
conventionalism · realpolitik · amoralism · pragmatism · utilitarianism
higher, high, law, highly, highness, highest, lawful, lawless, lawyer