Natural Law

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OSE follows principles of natural law - those governance principle derived from how things work naturally. Some of the principles come from nature ( biomimicry), and others come from emulating more abstract natural principles as interpreted by humans.

Hear the first explicit discussion of natural law at the Victor Shamas podcast recording.

Some principles that we think make sense (these may or may not be covered in the legal system) are as follows. These are posted for discussion, evaluation, and review, as they will constitute the governing principles of OSE Campuses, which involves legal literacy of participants. Technical, legal, entrepreneurial, ecological (natural), ethical, psychological, tanscendent, and collaborative literacies, as well as numeracy, are requirements of doctoral-level graduation from the OSE Campus. The first 4 years are technical, entrepreneurial, ecological, and collaborative literacy and numeracy, and the last 4 years focus on ethical, psychological, legal, and transcendent literacies.

  1. Distinguish between contract law and institutional law, allowing for over-riding of institutional law by private contract. This is the essential principle of contract law: 2 parties are free to enter any agreement they like, as long as it does not impinge upon the well-being of others. All private contracts should be respected, and the interference of institutional law shall be minimized. Institutional law is that which has indirectly been agreed upon, without direct consent of those governed. For example - a bill or law is an institutional law - some person 100 years down the line had nothing to do with the creation of that law, yet is subject to it. Institutional law should be reviewed on an ongoing basis.
  2. Voluntary contract reigns supreme. Individuals should be able to opt in to any administrative law upon their will. Society should strive to create mechanisms whereby opt-in is possible. It should be recognized that anyone who does not explicitly agree to a social contract - is being coerced. Whether such coercion serves or does not serve justice should be examined.
  3. Social contracts shall be implicit and understood for inalienable rights. Life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness are universal, understood, shared rights. For example, it is not legal or ethical to kill someone else within the rule of law.
  4. Administrative law should be distinct from inalienable rights. There is a proliferation of administrative rules that have nothing to do with inalienable rights. A just society should aim to minimize the number of these rules that exist on the books, and a periodic re-evaluation of outdated rules should be made.
  5. That government is best which governs the least. This is another saying for - if people are responsible, government needs to do less to govern people.
  6. Law should be applied unequally, but application of law should be just. This does not mean that cops will pull over only black people on the highway. It does mean that laws should apply to people individually. For example, a person who has a repeated record of drunk driving or other evil shall enjoy a higher insurance rate or other sanctions and may have higher fines imposed. Whereas a person who has an examplary record shall have lower or even negative insurance costs.
  7. There is in-law and out-law. In law - things are legal. But things can happen outside of law (not within the legal institution) that would be illegal if caught. The legal system should aim to internalize handling of things within law to maximize justice. For example, making lynching mobs not guilty should be corrected.