The non-juridical state is that condition of society in which
there is no distributive justice. It is commonly called the natural
state (status naturalis), or the state of nature. It is not the social
state, as Achenwall puts it, for this may be in itself an artificial
state (status artificialis), that is to be contradistinguished from
the "natural" state. The opposite of the state of nature is the
civil state (status civilis) as the condition of a society standing
under a distributive justice. In the state of nature, there may even
be juridical forms of society such as marriage, parental authority,
the household, and such like. For none of these, however, does any law
a priori lay it down as an incumbent obligation: "Thou shalt enter
into this state." But it may be said of the juridical state that: "All
men who may even involuntarily come into relations of right with one
another ought to enter into this state."
The natural or non-juridical social state may be viewed as the
sphere of private right, and the civil state may be specially regarded
as the sphere of public right. The latter state contains no more and
no other duties of men towards each other than what may be conceived
in connection with the former state; the matter of private right is,
in short, the very same in both.
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