Natural Right

LeftismNatural right—the idea that there is a collection of laws and rights based not on custom or belief but that are “natural” in origin—is typically associated with liberal politics and freedom. In The Terror of Natural Right, Dan Edelstein argues that the revolutionaries used the natural right concept of the “enemy of the human race”—an individual who has transgressed the laws of nature and must be executed without judicial formalities—to authorize three-quarters of the deaths during the Terror.The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution Book by Dan Edelstein Originally published: October 2009