Book Reviews : American Democracy and Natural Law. By CORNELIA GEER LEBOU, TELLIER. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1950. Pp. vi, 204. $3.00.)

• Date: 01 December 1950
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295000300415
• Published date: 01 December 1950
• Author: Karl Pribram
• Subject Matter: Articles

634
and a complete lack of articles representing many fields of activity.
However, this discrepancy between title and contents detracts but little
from the book, which deserves praise for its timely, scholarly and
readable articles.
W. HAROLD DALGLIESH.
University of Utah.
American Democracy and Natural Law. By CORNELIA GEER LEBOU,
TELLIER. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1950. Pp. vi, 204.
$3.00.)
Like many other political scientists, Miss LeBoutellier has been
embarrassed by the role which the ambiguous concept of natural law
has played in the reasoning of the Founding Fathers. Her book is
designed to show that this concept was not derived from the belief in
the faculty of reason to establish immutable principles of justice and
absolutely valid norms of human relationships.
Miss LeBoutellier carefully analyzes the significance and the func-
tions attributed to the concept of natural law by Jefferson, Madison,
Hamilton, James Wilson, Governor Winthrop, Samuel Adams, and
Thomas Cooper; she supplements her analysis by a discussion of the
use made of that concept by eminent American and British jurists.
In fact, she builds up a strong case for her contention that &dquo;the source
of the natural and inalienable rights which the Americans claimed
and clung to, was not to be found in first principles known a priori;
these rights ... were read out of English history&dquo; (p. 139). It was the
utilitarian meaning, she states (p. 156), &dquo;which gives this particular con-
cept its clarity, assuring or asserting that the pattern of laws is worked
out with the purpose of binding society together in the way most
beneficial to all.&dquo;
It may be open to doubt whether that meaning is as clear and
unequivocal as Miss LeBoutellier has endeavored to demonstrate. On
the other hand, she has convincingly shown, as others have done before,
that all attempts to define natural law in terms of a priori principles
have met with insuperable logical difficulties. She has directed...