§ 4. In What Manner Restitution Is To Be Made

240. Principle. Generally it is required and suffices that restitution be made in that manner by which violated justice is repaired to equality.

This is clear from the notion of commutative justice and of restitution.

Corollaries. a) Restitution can be made secretly, without the owner noticing it, e.g., by secretly increasing the weight of merchandise.

b) It can be made under the appearance of a gift. If, however, the creditor, moved by this gift, should repay another gift to the debtor, care must be taken that by subsequent gifts or offerings the equality of violated justice is at length repaired. But when someone, forgetful of the debt, has gratuitously given something to the creditor, he can nevertheless reckon that gift toward satisfying his obligation of justice. Thus the more probable opinion. The reason is that in every liberal prestation each one is presumed to will first and preferably to satisfy obligations of justice. St. Alphonsus seems to favor this opinion, disputing at length about this question, although he calls the opposite opinion more common and very probable.¹¹⁵ Hence, in practice, restitution is not still to be urged if the entire debt has already been paid to the creditor by gratuitous gifts. Indeed, when the legitimate owner is unknown and restitution is therefore to be made to the poor, a great part of alms made after (but not before) the obligation of restoring was contracted can then be reckoned toward restitution.

How restitution is to be made to the treasury or to juridical societies was already said above in n. 230.

¹¹⁵ L. c. n. 700, q. 2.