In legal and philosophical contexts, refers to universal principles of justice and morality considered inherent in human nature, as opposed to positive law (実定法) or human-made law (人定法).
Natural law is considered to be above human-made laws.
His paper discusses the relationship between natural law and positive law.
Human-made law; a less common synonym for positive law, explicitly contrasted with natural law.
Compound of 自然 (shizen, 'nature') and 法 (hō, 'law'), calque from Western legal philosophy.