Section 2. The Order Among Creditors from Natural Law

507. If a debtor cannot satisfy all his creditors, it is asked whether before cession of goods, or with abstraction made from it, payment must be made to each pro rata, or whether some order among creditors can or must be observed. Now from natural law these things can be established:

1. To the owner must be returned another's things which exist in themselves with the debtor, for example, deposited or leased things, as was said above (n. 506).

2. Before all others satisfaction must be made to creditors who through hypothec have acquired a real right in certain goods of the debtor. But satisfaction must be made to these so that earlier ones are preferred to later ones: for these later ones acquire a right in the goods of the debtor only insofar as they are not already bound to prior ones.

3. The full debt can licitly be paid to the following creditors, although from this the part to be paid to other creditors is diminished: for, by acting thus, an injury properly so called is not done to these, because on the one hand they do not have a right in certain goods, and on the other the others receive only what is owed to them by strict right:

a. to poor creditors;

b. to creditors prior in time;

c. to creditors asking first.

alpha. If the debtor has a just cause of paying one integrally before the others, nothing prevents him from warning him to seek payment of the debt.

beta. Sometimes laws declare payments made a short time before cession of goods to be void. Therefore if creditors to whom satisfaction cannot be made integrally have recourse to a judge, and the judge declares the payments made invalid, creditors must return in conscience the payments received.

508. What must be done by a servant who adverts that his master is so burdened with debt that he cannot satisfy his creditors?

a. A servant who is necessary for preserving honor and a justly acquired state can remain in service and receive wages: for what is necessary for this end the master burdened with debt can licitly expend.

b. A servant who is not necessary for this end can seek and receive wages if in good faith he furnished service to the master and only now adverts that he is unable to pay all creditors, both because he belongs to privileged creditors and because of the reason to be adduced below.

c. Whether a servant who is not necessary for preserving the honor and state of the family must depart when he adverts that his master cannot feed so many servants without damage to creditors, or whether he can remain and receive wages, authors do not agree. It can probably be said that the master indeed cannot licitly retain superfluous servants to the damage of his creditors, but that servants whom the master does not spontaneously dismiss can ordinarily remain and accept wages: for they must be considered as materially cooperating in the sin of the master; but ordinarily a sufficient reason will be present on account of which they can licitly cooperate in the sin of the master, especially where, if they depart, others will not be lacking who will enter the service.¹

¹ Cf. Ballerini-Palmieri III, n. 526.