IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 20, Issue 8, Ver. IV (Aug 2015), PP 24-29 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0837-20842429 www.iosrjournals.org 24 | Page A Critical Analysis of the Proximity of Natural Law to the Indian Constitution Aishwarya Deb 1 , Prithwish Roy Chowdhury 2 1 (Dept. of Law, Calcutta University, India) 2 (Institute of Law, Nirma University, India) Abstract: The term “Natural law” refers to principles about ultimate right and wrong that go beyond particular notions and cultures, which arises from the nature of human beings itself, or it may simply express the necessities for anything identifiable as a society. The usefulness of natural law is indeed indispensable for constitutional adjudication. Through this paper, the authors have discussed the relation between natural law and the Constitution. The authors have also asserted the necessity of “natural law” as a tool to provide meaning to various constitutional principles, as some of these clauses can be established, in their meaning, only by attaching them to the properties of a moral argument. The authors also emphasize that moral reasoning not only illuminates the proper reach of existing constitutional principles but may properly be employed to create new constitutional principles, which would then become just as binding on the polity as the written law of the Constitution. Keywords: Natural law, constitution, adjudication, moral reasoning; I. Introduction A natural law theory argues of natural rights which is inherent in every human being by virtue of his personality and is inalienable and imprescriptible. i From natural law there has been a gradual transition to natural rights. The idea of natural rights has its origin in the natural law and natural law speaks of natural rights ii . The doctrine of natural rights is itself an offshoot of the doctrine of natural law. iii Although Greek thinkers Socrates iv Plato v , and Aristotle vi did not use the word ‗natural rights‘, and devoted their work on the concepts of ‗natural justice‘, ‗equality‘ and ‗non-arbitrariness‘. Cicero used the law implying ‗right‘ and universal and unchangeable law implies ‗natural rights‘ vii . During 16th century the concept of natural rights suffered a temporary set back by the teachings of Machiavelli who opposed the idea of natural right and supported absolute monarchy viii . The concept of natural rights was criticized for the following reasons: a) As the doctrines of natural rights were recognized as inalienable, inviolable and indestructible could instigate the common people to the revolutionary actions. ix b) B. Bentham x , JS Mill xi , and David Hume xii , opposed the idea of natural rights and the social contract as vague, obscure and contrary to empirical truth. xiii c) The concept of natural law had also attracted the criticisms of Marxist philosophy. xiv However in the 16 th to 18 th century Hobbes and Locke xv used natural law theory to develop the novel theory of the social contract. xvi The main cause for the revival of natural rights towards the end of the nineteenth and in the twentieth centuries was the failure of positivists to find answers to the problems such as the shattering effects of World Wars, the decline in standards, a growing insecurity and uncertainty that have stimulated a new quest for moral order afforded by natural law in the past. xvii It is in this twentieth century that the doctrine of natural rights had been recognized and had been inserted into the sphere of constitutional law in the form of Bill of Rights. In England, where there is unwritten Constitution, the natural rights are called by different nomenclature as ‗civil rights‘ xviii , ‗civil liberties‘ xix , freedoms xx or individual liberties xxi . When natural rights are guaranteed and entrenched by a written constitution, they become fundamental right because they are guaranteed by the fundamental law xxii .In the Indian Constitution, Part III is devoted to fundamental rights and hence accounts for the natural law element in the constitution. Although, as discussed later in the paper, that it is not part III alone but the basic structure doctrine which is the light bearer of natural law in the Indian Constitution. II. Jurisprudential Study Philosophers and jurists do not lag behind the theologians, in their endeavour to search for a law which is higher than positive law; and they developed the theory of natural law. The natural law theory was founded and elaborated by Aristotle, the Stoics of Greek Hellenistic period and later by Cicero during the Roman period. xxiii They believed that natural law comprised of certain principles of justice and truth which were discovered by right reason i.e., in accordance with nature. xxiv Medieval Christian philosophers such as Thomas