Section — Koch–Preuss
Section 1: The Concept of Law
- The objective norm of morality, i. e., the rule by which men must regulate their conduct, is the will of God as manifested through nature and Revelation.
"The measure or rule of the human will is twofold, one proximate and homogeneous to the will itself, namely human reason; the other is the first rule, namely, the eternal law, which is as it were the reason of God."1
1 St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 71, art. 6: "The rule of the human will is twofold: one proximate and homogeneous, namely human reason itself; the other is the first rule, namely the eternal law, which is as it were the reason of God." (Rickaby's tr.).
Whenever an act proceeds to the end according to the order of reason and of the eternal law, the act is right; when it swerves from this rectitude, it is wrong, i. e., a sin.2
2 Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 21, art. 1: "In matters done through the will, the proximate rule is human reason, while the supreme rule is the eternal law. ... Every voluntary act is evil insofar as it departs from the order of reason and of the eternal law, and every good act agrees with reason and the eternal law."
Law, therefore, is but another name for the divine will recognized as the standard of human conduct.3 In a narrower sense law may be defined as "an ordinance of reason for the general good, promulgated by him who has the care of the community." 4 2. The source and measure of all law, physical, spiritual, and ethical, is the lex aeterna, i. e., the intellect and will of God commanding men to observe the right order and forbidding its disturbance. 5 This divine law is promulgated in time (lex temporalis), (1) as the law of physical nature and (2) as the law of the moral order (lex moralis).
3 Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 90, art. 1: "Law is a certain rule and measure of acts, according to which someone is induced to act or restrained from acting. For law is named from binding, because it binds one to act." —On the derivation of the word lex from legere see Cicero, De Legibus, I, 19; St. Augustine, Quaest. in Heptateuch., III, qu. 20 (Migne, P. L., XXXIV, 681).
4 "Law is nothing other than an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by him who has care of the community." (St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, qu. 90, art. 4).
5 Cfr. St. Augustine, Contra Faust. Manich., XXII, c. 27 (Migne, P. L., XLII, 418).
The moral law is either natural, in as far as it is promulgated by the rational nature of man (lex moralis naturalis, ius naturae),6 or positive (lex moralis positiva), in so far as it is made known by supernatural Revelation.7
God also manifests His will through human laws, which are called ecclesiastical (leges ecclesiasticae s. canonicae) when made by the Church, or civil (leges civiles) when imposed by the authority of the State.
READINGS. —St. Thomas, Summa Theologica, 1a 2ae, qu. 90-108 (Rickaby, Aquinas Ethicus, Vol. I, pp. 264 sqq.). —E. Seydel, Das ewige Gesetz, Vienna 1902. —A. Janvier, Exposition de la Morale Catholique, Vol. VII, Paris 1909.—Thos. Slater, S.J., A Manual of Moral Theology, Vol. I, 5th ed., N. Y. 1925, pp. 81 sqq. —Jos. Rickaby, S.J., Moral Philosophy, new impression, London 1908, pp. 126 sqq.—Suarez, De Legibus, Vol. I, 12 and II, 6. —V. Cathrein, S.J., art. "Law" in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 53 sqq. —IDEM, Moralphilosophie, Vol. I, 4th ed., pp. 332 sqq. —Thos. Bouquillon, Theologia Fundamentalis, n. 52 sqq. —S. Schiffini, S.J., Philosophia Moralis, Turin 1891, Vol. I, pp. 104 sqq. —M. Cronin, The Science of Ethics, Vol. I, pp. 597 sqq. —A. Sweens, Theologia Moralis Fundamentalis, 2nd ed., Haaren 1910, pp. 120 sqq. —A. Tanquerey, S.S., Synopsis Theologiae Moralis, Vol. II, Tournai 1905, pp. 119 sqq. —E. Müller, Theol. Mor., Vol. I, 5th ed., pp. 120 sqq. —J. E. Ross, C. S. P., Christian Ethics, New York 1919, pp. 87 sqq. —A. Vermeersch, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. I, pp. 142 sqq.