You've most likely heard the term that "ignorance of the law is no excuse" and this is mainly in reference to legislation, so called "laws" created by "government", in other words "Mans law".
NATURAL Law however, has nothing to do with rules created on a piece of paper by human beings but has everything to do with laws that are inherent to the universe and are always in effect.
If a kid walks off a cliff and then falls down to their unfortunate end, will gravity spare this child because they didnt know or understand the concept of gravity? Will gravity let this kid off because they were ignorant of how this law works? No, gravity works the way it does ALL the time, EVERY time, not because of some scribbles on paper by men in suits but because it is a law that is Natural, NON man made, and we are bound by this law whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we understand it or not, whether we even KNOW about it or not, its ALWAYS in effect.
All we can do is become knowledgeable of its existence, how it operates, how it affects us and then live in harmony with it i.e. DON'T walk off the cliff because you WILL fall down.
THIS is what a natural law is, its consequences CANNOT be escaped, only understood. There are consequences for living in harmony with or going against Natural Law. If you go against Natural Law, a bad consequence will occur i.e. harm from walking off a cliff, if you DO harmonise with natural law then a good consequence will occur i.e. no harm coming to you since you didn't walk off the cliff.
The Natural Law of morality works the same way, a society of freedom, peace and co existence can ONLY EVER come to fruition from a people who understand and are living in harmony with morality, a people who know the difference between RIGHT and WRONG and are choosing RIGHT action in all aspects of their lives i.e. they do not violate the rights, property, freedoms and lives of others, leaving other people alone in peace by not attacking them essentially, if the vast majority of people in a society lived in harmony with the natural law of morality as described above, the consequence would be a world of freedom, peace, coexistence and all the things most people say they want in the world, its the only thing that COULD happen since there would be very few people (if any at all) committing or supporting actions that violate peoples freedom, peace and life.
However if the vast majority of people in a society DONT live in harmony with the natural law of morality and and therefore ARE committing, condoning and supporting action that violate others, the consequence of going against this natural law will be a world of violence, war, fear and destruction since that is the ACTIONS that most people are DOING or SUPPORTING or CONDONING. These consequences of your ACTIONS and the support of other peoples actions will still occur regardless of whether you understood how the natural law of morality works or not.
Now take a look at the world and its current condition, THIS will give you an idea of where humanity as a whole is when it comes to its understanding and harmonising with the natural law of morality and THIS is the problem AND the solution to creating the kind of world we'd like to see.
If we want a world of true freedom and peace, then the vast majority of people need to understand and harmonise with natural law, if we dont want a world of true freedom and peace then people need only do the opposite. Either way, whether you know about Natural Laws or not, they are ALWAYS in effect and we are ALWAYS bound by them, our actions or in-actions determine the kinds of consequences we get as a result and your ignorance of these laws does not change this.
For a far more indepth on this topic and to gain a better understanding of Natural Law please watch Natural Law Seminar by Mark Passio, link below:
part 1
part 2
part 3