Thesis: An ancient law is a good law.

Definitions:

Ancient - one that has endured for long time and withstood changes over time

Law - a legislated regulation of human conduct in a political community

Good Law - a principle of governance evaluated as having a positive contribution to

man’s flourishing in accordance with his nature
as a human being

Premises :

Lawmaking must be tethered to the good and hence it aspires to achieve that which is
considered good ( i.e. aspirational nature). Law must unite itself to the nature of man
and to the attainment of that which flourishes man and society and their continuation.
The concept of law as having aspirational end makes it tenable compared to being a
mere edict or a resolution reached after debate whose main claim for its compliance is its
source i.e. from the ruler or appointed lawmaker.

For a law to merit as good it must by itself contain the value of it being ordered for the
flourishing of man. A good law is one which the citizenry plausibly takes obedience as
a rule of thumb perforce from its aspirational end.

Why is it so?

Lawmaking is best given to those who are fit to know the nature of men and their
governance, much like that of tending the garden which must be assigned to a gardener
who knows the nature of gardens. This is in accord with Socrates view that “legislation
is a kingly art of those who know the nature of men and their governance”. Accordingly, if we
are to assume this as complied, we expect that a given law is a good law.

Under the theory of “legal natural selection” ancient law may be regarded as just and
good because if it were not, it will fail to “work” and would fall and by implication those
that remain and withstand time may be considered as good laws (i.e. the quality of
flourishing man’s nature).

The argument is that stability is a manifestation that a thing is in accord with what is
truth and valued or a prima facie finding of such qualities. Similarly, the parallelism
may be put forward that a building structure that is quality withstands decay. And that
accordingly, quality makes a thing immune to extinction