Theoretical aspects and objective traces and impacts of natural law in human rights instruments and judgments

As the most substantive and fundamental rights of individuals, natural rights are of an ancient history and are not surrounded by a particular school of thought. Natural law has been founded on nature and reason of human beings; of and from which no legal system can be independent and indifferent. Meanwhile, it has always been controversial whether contemporary human rights are also rooted in natural law. This paper seeks to examine the claims of proponents of natural rights. Once it explains the major instances of natural rights, it theoretically analyzes the possibility and impact of such rights on human rights in general, and highlights the objective traces and impacts of natural rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Charter of Human Rights and the human rights judgments issued by the International Court of Justice.