Morals of the Church
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Article — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Article II. On the Nature of Laws in Species

77.

I. Laws are divided by authors in many ways. Namely:

  1. By reason of duration, into eternal law and temporal laws. The former is that which exists from eternity in the divine mind. The others have been made in time.

  2. By reason of the immediate author, into divine and human laws. Human laws are ecclesiastical or civil.

  3. By reason of foundation and promulgation, into natural and positive law. The former is founded in human nature and is promulgated by the natural light of reason. The latter is not founded in human nature and is promulgated by some external sign.

  4. By reason of obligation, into moral, penal, and mixed law, according as it obliges either to the act or omission alone, or to the penalty alone, or to the act and the penalty (St. Alphonsus, Homo Apostolicus, tr. 2, n. 14).

  5. By reason of acts, into prescribing, prohibiting, permitting, punishing, and invalidating law. A prescribing law, which is also called affirmative, commands an act to be placed; a prohibiting or negative law forbids placing an act.1 A permitting law grants the agent a moral faculty or right of acting, and obliges others not to impede the agent (n. 62). A punishing law establishes the penalty to be undergone on account of transgression of the law. Finally, an invalidating law renders the act invalid.

We shall have regard to this division in its own place (n. 150 sq.). But for our present purpose the division already indicated, but now to be assigned again and extended, is more practical.

1 Here note the saying: an affirmative law obliges always, but not for always; a negative law obliges always and for always.

LawThe divisions of law

78.

II. Law is divided into eternal and temporal. Temporal law is distinguished into natural and positive. Positive law is divine or human; human law is ecclesiastical or civil (St. Alphonsus, Homo Apostolicus, tr. 2, n. 1). We shall speak of each.

The divisions of law

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