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Why did Cicero argue that unjust statutes were not true laws?

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The Greek philosopher Plato — Philosophy of law Plato, marble portrait bust copied from an original of the 4th century bce; in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

Cicero argued that unjust statutes were not true laws because he believed that valid law must be rooted in objective moral truths, which he termed natural law.

In his work De republica, Cicero defined true law as "right reason in agreement with nature," characterizing it as an eternal and unchangeable standard that transcends human-enacted statutes. Because he viewed this natural law as the ultimate moral authority, he maintained that any human-created statute that is wicked or unjust fails to meet the necessary moral criteria to qualify as law. Consequently, he asserted that those who formulate such unjust statutes are merely putting into effect something other than "law," as they violate the fundamental principles of justice and the agreements upon which a society is built.1