The development of natural law has had a profound influence on the course of European civilization. I have started my research with natural law as it was conceived by Socrates and Plato. I then followed the major developments and changes that occurred to this original design through to the height of the Renaissance in the Sixteenth century. I relied mostly on secondary sources for several reasons. First the translations of the original materials are all well established. This includes translations of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Ockham, Suarez, Luther, as well as others. Secondly, and more importantly, the emphasis of my research was not to describe the secondary and tertiary intellectual work of the thinkers after Plato. Rather I wish to show how the philosophical forces that Plato struggled against during his lifetime reemerged later in two major philosophies peculiar to Europe and how these essentially distorted his original design.

This study aims to discuss the question of foreign influences on early Islamic law. This issue has been dealt with from various perspectives. Some scholars claim that Roman law was the predominant influence in formulating Islamic law, both in its legal concepts and its application. Certain scholars, however, maintain that the provincial law influenced Islamic law more, arguing that Roman law was not really practiced in former Greek provinces where Islamic law was formulated. Still others argue that Jewish influences are also believed to have shaped the development of early Islamic law, considering that Babylonian schools were situated close to the Hanafi school. / The problem of foreign influences on early Islamic law, however, is a matter of degree only as far as the pre-Islamic Arab traditions are concerned. It is believed that certain institutions derived from pre-Islamic Arabic society, the Qur' an and the traditions of the Prophet provided the early Muslims with a considerable wealth of values, norms and broad principles as well as specific rules which were to guide the Muslims in their legal speculation in order to develop positive law.

This thesis is an attempt to question the established thesis of Joseph Schacht that Islamic law, as we know now, did not exist during the greater part of the first century of the Hijra. His argument rests on the notion that the Qur'an was only utilized as a secondary source in legal matters, and the Prophet's works were out of legal context. Thus, Muslims at that time mostly relied on customary law which was practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia. Consequently, he claims that Islamic law began to develop at the end of the first century of the Hijra, as a result of the measures taken by the Umayyad Caliphs and their Governors. / Contrary to this thesis, some scholars have shown some evidence to argue that Islamic law did exist during the life time of the Prophet. The Qur'an has played a significant role in formulating law as well as solving legal problems in the very beginning of the period. The key figure to apply such law is the Prophet himself and his companions, who, after him, acted as muftis. Moreover, all the Prophet's action including those related to legal matters had been transmitted orally and recorded in a written form. This transmission is owed to the isnad system which was introduced since the life time of the Prophet. After the Prophet's death, his companions pursued these legal activities by issuing legal decision which subsequently developed and became a model of Islamic law. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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This thesis examines the theory and practice of humanitarian intervention in the modern states system. Humanitarian intervention is defined as the use of military force across state boundaries, against the wishes of the target government, to protect the people from intolerable misrule and grave abuses of human rights. The aim of this thesis is to examine the problem of humanitarian intervention from the perspective of international society. This thesis is divided into two parts. Part One defines the concept, considers the historical and intellectual milieu in which the idea emerged and evolved, and examines the different grounds upon which states have justified a right of intervention. Part Two considers the implications for international society. International society exists when states have shared rules, values, and a mutual concern for order. Three primary arguments are made in Part Two: (1) Humanitarian intervention can co-exist with the rules of state sovereignty, non-intervention, and limitations on the use of force; (2) Humanitarian intervention has performed the historic function of expanding the values of international society; (3) Practised under the right circumstances, it can help promote international order rather than subvert it. As this thesis demonstrates, a more in-depth understanding of how past theorists and practitioners of humanitarian intervention have approached the problem can enrich the current discussion.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p.151-166). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

The thesis examines the origins and function of legal theory ( usul al-fiqh) within the context of the development of early Islamic law. I argue against the depiction of the development of law as a series of compromises between traditionalism and rationalism. Rather, by evading the demands of traditionalism, law evolved into a complex doctrinal entity rooted in the social structures of third-century Abbasid society. This revision of the development of law provides a context to evaluate early works of legal theory. Moreover, in context of my analysis of the development of law, I attempt to explain the emergence of legal theory as an independent discipline and its function within the greater structure of law.

<p> This dissertation examines the relationship between the institutions of Roman provincial administration and the economy of the Roman imperial diaspora in the Eastern Mediterranean in the second and first centuries BC. Focusing on the landed estates that many members of the imperial diaspora acquired in the territories of Greek cities, I argue that contestation over the allocation of resources in the provinces among Roman governing classes, the members of the imperial diaspora, and the elites of Greek cities decisively shaped the contours of what we would late recognize as the institutions of provincial administration. </p><p> Setting the Roman Empire within a new comparative framework, Chapter One suggests that ancient cities around the Mediterranean, including Rome, often used their imperial power to help their own citizens infringe upon the exclusionary property regimes of other cities, which insisted that&mdash;unless they decided otherwise&mdash;only their own citizens could acquire this land. Chapter Two combines semantic history with archaeological case-studies to argue that Roman ownership of agricultural resources in the territories of provincial cities was wide-spread and in fact often underpinned the movement of products for which the members of the diaspora are more commonly known. Chapter Three uses epigraphic documentation and Cicero's writings to examine how provincial governors responded to the economic concerns that Romans brought before them, maintaining that law became the most prominent response because it was able to perform a separation between the empire as state and the potentially problematic actions by members of the diaspora, while at the same time not abandoning these Romans' concerns. Chapter Four investigates the contestation over the terms on which members of the diaspora were able to acquire land in Greek cities and vindicates the contributions that Roman jurists and the elites of Greek cities made to the institutional architecture of provincial administration and the political economy it enshrined.</p>

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