In The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, human laws can be defined as the laws that are created and institutionalized by people with power such as the rulers of the church and state. Natural law contrasts from human law in that it is tied to our conscience. The right or wrong decision we make can vary among similar situations that we are in and the choices that we make are governed by what we ourselves believe is right or wrong do to our conscience. In that sense, there is no wrong or right choice in natural law because society perspective plays no role. Throughout the Decameron, we find that Boccaccio expresses his belief that natural laws were superior to the human laws at that time through the stories that are shared mostly by making a fool out of church members. These expressions show that the church was losing its power over Europe and that the human laws that existed were weak.
             This concept that natural law was above the human laws can be seen expressed in the story of Ser Cepparello. In this story, the holy friar would represent the human laws because human laws set standards on society. In this case, one had to be a righteous man to be considered acceptable in society. Ser Cepparello falls significantly short of these standards because he was considered an evil person due to the fraud, lies, gluttony, and other major sins that he has committed in his life. However, we see that natural laws, which is represented by Ser Cepparello's choice of lying to the clergy member to help avoid demeaning of the Florentine brothers who have cared for him while he was sick, overcomes human laws. This triumph over human law can be observed by the fact that after Ser Cepparello's false confessions caused him to be revered and remembered by people as someone who was highly righteous and saint-like. Ser Cepparello would not have been canonized had the human laws prevailed.
             In the immediate tale Boccacio further criticizes human law...