Treatise: On the Cardinal Virtue of Justice and on the Annexed Virtues

131. Order of things to be said. - Besides prudence, which disposes reason itself so that it may rightly judge and command all human actions in particular, in order to the honorable good and to the last end, there are three other cardinal virtues with the virtues annexed to them, which order the other powers and place the good of reason in them, so that all the movements of our appetite may be conformed to right reason and prudence, and thus may tend to the honorable good and to the last end.

But movements of the appetite 1) some are those which of themselves imply an order only to ourselves, namely, the passions of the sensitive appetite, of which a) some impel toward delectable good against reason, which temperance moderates and restrains, which removes the impediments of rectitude in the concupiscible appetite; b) others decline from the good and withdraw from that which reason dictates, against which fortitude strengthens the soul, which removes the impediments of rectitude in the irascible appetite; - 2) other movements are those by which we are also ordered to others, namely, operations of the will, which justice rectifies.

Justice therefore also regards the good of another, so that man may have himself well toward another; fortitude and temperance regard only the good of the one operating, so that he may have himself well toward himself; whence justice is more universal. And because it immediately perfects the will, which is nearer to reason, it participates more in the order of reason, and therefore we begin to speak of the cardinal virtue of justice.

132. Division of the treatise.¹ - The treatise is divided into six parts: 1. on justice in general; 2. on legal justice; 3. on commutative justice; 4. on distributive justice; 5. on the virtues annexed to justice; 6. on the precepts of justice.

¹ Lest confusion arise, we indicate only the division according to the large lines, referring, for the subdivisions, to the several questions.

The 1st Part treats of justice in general: 1st, of justice according to itself; - 2nd, of right, which is the object of justice: a) of right in general; b) of the species of right; c) of the object of right and dominion; d) of the subject of right and dominion; e) of the acquisition of right and dominion; - 3rd, of injustice and injury in general; - 4th, of the division of justice, or of its integral, subjective, and potential parts.

The 2nd Part treats of legal justice: 1st, of pursuing the common good; - 2nd, of procuring the common good; - 3rd, of the defense of the common good.

The 3rd Part treats of commutative justice: 1st, of its proper act, namely, of restitution in general; - 2nd, of justice and injustice in involuntary commutations: a) in the internal goods of soul and body; b) in the goods of marriage; c) in external goods; d) in reputation and honor; - 3rd, of justice and injustice in voluntary commutations or contracts: a) of contracts in general; b) of unilateral contracts; c) of onerous bilateral commutative contracts; d) of gratuitous bilateral contracts; e) of aleatory contracts; f) of subsidiary contracts.

The 4th Part treats of distributive justice: 1st, of judgment, which primarily and formally is an act of distributive justice; - 2nd, of justice and injustice in distributing goods; - 3rd, of justice and injustice in distributing burdens; - 4th, of justice and injustice in public judgments.

The 5th Part treats of the virtues annexed to justice: 1st, of religion according to itself; - 2nd, of the acts of religion; - 3rd, of sins opposed to religion; - 4th, of piety and observance; - 5th, of truthfulness; - 6th, of the remaining habits annexed to justice: gratitude, vindication, liberality, affability, equity, and the gift of piety.

The 6th Part treats of the precepts of justice.

133. Importance of the treatise. - The treatise on justice excels among the others, both 1) in breadth, because it treats of the cardinal virtue which, among the purely moral virtues, is the more principal in ordering morals and upon which almost the whole moral and social life depends, since the precepts of the Decalogue, according to St. Thomas, II-II, q. 122, a. 1, all regard justice; and 2) in difficulty, because it considers questions very arduous and yet of the greatest moment, especially in our times, when the means of communicating among men have become more numerous and intricate and infinitely varied.

Bibliography. - For justice itself, the following can usefully be compared: St. Thomas, in V Eth.; in I-II, q. 59, a. 4; q. 60, a. 1-3; q. 64, a. 2; in II-II, q. 57 and following, with the commentaries of Cajetan, Victoria, Bannez, Sylvius, and Billuart. Likewise St. Raymond of Pennafort, in Summa; Dom. Soto, De Iustitia et Iure; St. Antoninus, in Summa theologica; Cajetan, in Summula casuum, and in the opuscula; Concina, Theologia Christiana, t. VII, De Iustitia et iure; Lumbreras, De Iustitia, 1938.

Outside the school of St. Thomas, among the theologians of the Society of Jesus: Molina, Lessius, and Lugo, each of whom wrote a work de Iustitia et Iure; and Vermeersch, Quaestiones de Iustitia; and Theol. Mor., t. II; - Reiffenstuel, O. M., in Theol. Mor.; and St. Alphonsus, in Theol. mor., l. III.

Among the more recent authors: Carriere, De Iustitia; De Contractibus; Marres, De Iustitia; De Contractibus; Waffelaert, De Iustitia, tom. 2; and L'Obligation en conscience des lois civiles; Sweens, Institutiones theologicae de virtute cardinali iustitiae. Besides Ballerini, Opus theol. mor., vol. III; and the best-known manuals, such as Lehmkuhl, Genicot and Noldin; Marc and Aertnijs; Van der Velden; Haine, Theologia Mechliniensis, Mulier, Pruner, Tanquerey; Prummer, Goepfert, Mausbach, Schilling.

Likewise special works: Pottier, De Iure et Iustitia; Salsmans, Gerechtelijke plichtenleer; Van Roey, De Obiectis et actibus ad iustitiam pertinentibus; van Gestel: De Iustitia et lege civili; Van Egeren, Notationes de selectis materiis moralibus; E. Janssens, Cinq lecons sur la Justice; Michel, La Question sociale et les principes theologiques: Justice legale et Charite; M. St. Gillet, Conscience chretienne et Justice sociale; Rutten, La Doctrine sociale de l'Eglise; Lachance, Le Concept de Droit selon Aristote et S. Thomas; Faidherbe, La Justice distributive.

Among philosophical works: Goudin, Roselli, and Zigliara in the manuals; Taparelli, Droit Naturel; Meyer, Institutiones Iuris naturalis; Castelein, Philosophie morale et sociale; Droit Naturel; Cathrein, Philosophia moralis; Biederlack, Die soziale Frage; De Pascal, Philosophie morale; Schwalm, Lecons de Philosophie sociale; Lehu, Philosophia moralis et socialis; De Bie, Philosophia Moralis; Beysens, Ethiek of Zedenleer; Sertillanges, La morale de S. Thomas d'Aquin.

Among orators: Janvier, Conf. de N.-D.: La Justice et le Droit.

Finally, subsidiary works: Gousset, Le code civil commente dans ses rapports avec la morale; Allegre, Le Code civil commente a l'egard du clerge; Aubry and Rau, Cours de Droit civil francais; Beaudry Lacantinerie, Precis de Droit civil; Lehmkuhl, Das Burgerliche Gesetzbuch; W. Duynstee, Burgerlijk Recht en Zielezorg. Likewise Liberatore, Principi di Economia politica; Antoine, Cours d'Economie sociale; Brants, Les grandes lignes de l'Economie politique; Schrijvers, Manuel d'Economie politique with a preface by Father Rutten; Vliebergh, Staathuishoudkunde, and generally economists such as Paul Leroy Beaulieu, de Molinari, Cauwes, Gide, V. Fallon, etc.