Law
90. The Essence of Law
1. Law is an ordinance of reason. The word law derives from a Latin word which means to bind. Now, the rule or measure of human acts is reason; what binds a man in reference to human acts pertains to reason.
2. Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good of persons in a society. Law is not directly for the benefit of individual persons as such, although it binds individual persons. Law is primarily for the benefit of individuals in a group, in a society.
3. A law is thus an ordinance of reason for the common good. A law is made either by the society which it binds, or it is imposed on that society by the public personage who has charge of the society and authority to rule it.
4. A law must be promulgated. That is, it must be sufficiently announced and made known to those upon whom it lays obligation. Without knowledge of a law, a person cannot be guided by it in his human acts. The full definition of law is: an ordinance of reason, made and promulgated for the common good by one who has charge of a community or society.
91. Kinds of Law
1. The community of all things in the universe is governed by divine reason. This government is law. Since divine reason is eternal, being identified with God himself, this law is the eternal law.
2. All things are subject to the eternal law; it directs all things to their proper ends. But it is, in a special way, the law which governs rational creatures. Human beings share the divine reason by becoming aware of an order in things according to which man is to attain his last end, his true purpose in existing. The eternal law, thus manifest to human reason, is called the natural law. The natural law is the eternal moral law as knowable by sound human reason without the aid of supernatural revelation.
3. From the precepts of the natural law, human reason derives details of direction and order for conducting the affairs of life. Human reason interprets or applies the natural law in particular cases. Each enactment and application of the natural law for particular cases is a human law.
4. Over and above the natural law, and human laws derived from it, man needs to have the eternal and divine law revealed to him supernaturally. For man has a supernatural end to attain; merely natural means are inadequate to attain this end. Besides, human judgment about particular acts and situations is variable and uncertain, so that human laws are sometimes contrary to one another. Nothing short of an unmistakable declaration of divine and eternal law can adequately direct and curb the interior acts of a man. Such declaration is made only by supernatural revelation. Human laws cannot forbid and punish all evils; when human laws attempt to do this, they invariably destroy much that is good. Only the divine law, supernaturally manifested, can forbid and punish all evils, and at the same time perfectly serve the common good of human society.
5. The divine and revealed law is manifested in the Old and the New Testaments of Holy Scripture. We call these the Old Law and the New Law. These two laws are distinct, as the imperfect state of a thing is distinct from its fully developed and perfect state; as the baby is distinct from the adult into which it is developing; as the sapling is distinct from the tree that it is to become. For the New Law is the perfection of the Old Law. The Old Law worked for the good of mankind through material things; the New Law works for the good of mankind through spiritual things. The Old Law was enforced by fear; the New Law is enforced by love.
6. By sin, man turned away from God and fell under the influence of strong sensual impulses. These impulses are always ready to flame up instantly; they are called fomes of sin. Fomes is the Latin word for touchwood or tinder that catches fire from the smallest spark. Now, while fomes is a deviation from the rule of reason, it is a constant directive force, and therefore it is called (though not with strict propriety) a law. St. Paul speaks of it so when he says (Bom. 7:23): "I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind."
92. The Effects of Law
1. The effect of law is to make men good. For law is an ordinance of reason; it is the function of such ordinance to direct men, through virtue, to their true end. If, however, the intention of the lawgiver is not to direct men to their true goal, the law does not tend to make men good simply; it tends to make men good only in the sense that they conform well with the intention of the law. Hence, a tyrannous law that aims at herding men into servile obedience, tends to make men good slaves. But after all, a tyrannous law is not a true law, for it is not in line with reason; it is not truly an ordinance of reason.
2. Law seeks to obtain its effect by directing those bound by it, and its requirements are expressed in four ways: permission, command, prohibition, penalty.
93. The Eternal Law
1. A governor has in mind the type of order he desires among his subjects. God is the infinite and all-perfect governor. God therefore has in himself the "type" of what creatures are to do to attain their end and purpose. This "type" is divine wisdom viewed as eternal law. Hence, we say, "The eternal law is the type of divine wisdom directing all acts and movements."
2. Normal human beings, as they emerge from infancy into responsible life (the use of reason), begin to have a grasp of the requirements of eternal law. They are increasingly aware of the meaning of duty and obligation; that is, they recognize the requirement of doing good and avoiding evil. Thus does human reason reflect the eternal law. As we have seen, this human awareness of the eternal law is called the natural law.
3. Since God is the first and perfect governor, the true plans and laws of lesser governors must be in line with God's plan and law. Therefore, all right and true laws are, in last analysis, derived from the eternal law.
4. God is not subject to his own eternal law, for God himself is the eternal law.
5. All actions and movements in the universe are subject to the eternal law working through divine providence and divine government.
6. Therefore, all human affairs fall under the direction of eternal law. Good men are perfectly subject to the eternal law; bad men are imperfectly subject. Ultimately, order and triumphant justice must prevail; good men and evil men will ultimately be in harmony with justice, whether in glory or in punishment.
94. The Natural Law
1. As we have seen, the natural law is the eternal law as knowable by sound human reason without the aid of supernatural revelation. The natural law becomes naturally known (and is thus promulgated) to normal human beings as they advance from infancy to fuller and fuller use of reason. The natural law is not, in itself, a habit in the human mind, but it tends to become a habit. The habitual knowledge of first moral principles (summed up in: "Do good-avoid evil") becomes a true habit in the human mind; it is a habit called by the name synderesis.
2. The basic precept of the natural law, "Do good-avoid evil," is the root out of which definite precepts and prohibitions grow as a person advances in awareness of things and recognizes their good or their evil. The natural law embraces all these directives.
3. The natural law indicates and directs man's inclination to act in accordance with reason. Hence, since all virtues accord with reason, we may say that all virtues are prescribed by the natural law.
4. The natural law is one and the same for all men. Yet, in certain persons, it may be perverted by passion, habit, or evil disposition, as, for instance, in ancient Sparta where lies and thefts and successful trickery were not considered wrong. Now, such exceptions only prove the rule. Such exceptions do not destroy the universality of the natural law anymore than the prevalence of malaria among a certain people destroys the universal understanding of what is meant by human health.
5. The natural law is changeless in the sense that its precepts cannot be upset or destroyed. It can change by extension, by new applications, as experience brings new situations and circumstances. Such a change is not in the natural law itself; it is extrinsic to the natural law; it is merely a new use of the natural law. For instance, the question may arise as to the use of atom bombs in warfare; we may inquire whether the use of such weapons is in conflict with the natural law. Such a question is new; it could not arise in the days when atom bombs were entirely unknown. The question seeks to apply the unchanging natural law in a changing world.
6. The basic and general principles of the natural law cannot be eradicated from human nature. St. Augustine (Conf. ii) says, "The law is written in the hearts of men; iniquity itself does not efface it."
95. Human Law
1. Man has an aptitude for virtue, but, since the fall, he has also a strong inclination to inordinate pleasure and a proneness to evil. Man requires training, especially when he is young, so that he may avoid evil. And men who are evil need to be restrained. Both helpful training and suitable restraints must deal in some detail with human actions. Hence, to promote the application and fulfillment of the natural law, human laws are framed.
2. True human laws are rooted in the natural law, for they are derived from it, and they seek to apply it in special situations.
3. St. Isidore lists the qualities of human positive laws (that is, laws set forth in positive enactments of government) as follows: "Law shall be virtuous, just, possible to nature, according to the customs of a country, suitable in place and time, necessary, useful, clearly expressed, framed for no private benefit but for the common good of the people."
4. Human law as a reasoned general conclusion or derivation from the natural law appears in "the law of nations" or international law. As applied in various situations within each nation, human law is called civil law.
96. The Power of Human Law
1. Human law, according to the Pandects of Justinian, "should be made to suit the majority of instances, not for what may possibly happen in individual cases." As St. Isidore says (Etym. ii): "Law should be framed for the common good of all citizens, and not for any private benefit." It is apparent then that human laws are primarily for the community rather than for any individual member of the community.
2. In prohibiting, human laws cannot refer specifically to all human vices, but only to the more grievous ones, and chiefly those that are hurtful to fellowmen (such as theft or murder) and which must be prohibited if the necessary order of life in human society is to be maintained.
3. Nor can human laws, in commanding, prescribe every act of every virtue by special enactment. Human law must prescribe all virtues that serve the common good, but not in full detail.
4. Just human laws derive, through the natural law, from the eternal law. Hence such laws bind a man in conscience. Unjust human laws do not bind in conscience, except to the extent that a man must endure some hardship rather than upset an established system of harmonious rule. But laws which are unjust because they directly contravene God's law are not only not binding, but a man is bound in conscience to disregard them, to oppose them, and to do what he can to have them revoked.
5. Human law binds all its subjects equally, and without exception.
6. The letter of the law is to be observed except where such observance would be harmful to the general welfare. Sometimes necessity dispenses from law. When pressure of necessity is not so sudden or strong as to demand instant decision, a dispensation from the law is to be obtained from those in authority.
97. Changes in Law
1. Human laws are made by fallible man. They are therefore subject to change as men gain more experience and are thus enabled to frame laws that more and more consistently serve the general welfare. Further, there may arise in a society conditions which require new laws or alterations in existing laws.
2. Yet frequent or sudden changes in human laws are to be avoided. To serve its purpose, law requires a certain permanence; a change is, in itself, usually prejudicial to the general welfare. Therefore, unless the good to be achieved by change is great enough to warrant the upheaval occasioned by the change itself, law is not to be altered.
3. Human reason which puts laws into words of enactment may also express itself in deeds. And thus customs arise to serve the common good. Customs can come to have the force of law itself. Indeed, it is possible for custom to become so firmly and widely established that it supplants existing statute law. For the rest, custom is regularly the standard by which existing law is interpreted.
4. It may be that a law which works generally for the common welfare is found, in certain cases, to inflict damage upon individuals. The person in charge of the society concerned may, in such instances, excuse the individuals from observing the law. The authoritative decree of excuse is called a dispensation from the law.
98. The Old Law
1. The Old Law is the law of God as expressed in the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures. The Old Law was meant to repress passion and prevent sin. It could not confer the grace that man needs to reach his true end and goal. Such grace came with New Law of charity, which is the law of Christ. Hence the Old Law was good, but not perfect.
2. The Old Law came from God; it was a divine law. It disposed and prepared men for the coming of Christ with his perfect law of charity. The imperfect serves to bring on the perfect, even in the dealings of God with men. No art is learned except by progressing from imperfect to more perfect and still more perfect, until perfection itself is achieved. And the same master who guides a beginner, may guide him still as his work grows better; may, indeed, guide him until his work is roundedly perfect. So, by the Old Law, God guides man towards perfection, and continues to guide him in the perfection of the New Law.
3. God gave the Old Law to man by his ministering angels. St. Paul (Gal. 3:19) says: "The old law was given by angels in the hand of a mediator." But the New Law was given by God himself who became man to rule and save us.
4. It is fitting that the special people through whom the Redeemer was to come should, in the choice of providence, be made the recipient of the Old Law.
5. In so far as the Old Law expressed precepts of the natural law, it was binding on all peoples, Jew and Gentile. But the special prescriptions of the Old Law which were to sanctify the Jews for the coming of Christ through their nation, were binding upon the Jews alone.
6. The Old Law was suitably given at the time of Moses. By that time man had realized his great fault in rebelling against God; human pride had been humbled by crushing experience. And, lest the fall of pride lead to despairing abandonment of efforts to serve God, the chastisement could not be too long continued. At the time of Moses pride had been humbled, and, while vice was rampant, it had not yet thrown men into despair. The Old Law came in most timely manner to repress evil and to encourage good.
99. The Precepts of the Old Law
1. The precepts of the Old Law have a single purpose, but they concern various things.
2. In the Old Law we find moral precepts, for the law that is to bring man back to God must make man morally good.
3. Besides moral precepts the Old Law contains ceremonial prescriptions for giving expression to man's turning to God, by a common and fitting ceremonial worship.
4. Further, the Old Law contains certain judicial directives or precepts which regulate the conduct of the Chosen People towards one another, towards strangers in their midst, and among those occupying different stations in life.
5. These three items make up the whole prescription of the Old Law: moral precepts, ceremonial laws, and judicial directives.
6. The Old Law disposed man for the Christian dispensation, that is, for the New Law, as the imperfect disposes for the perfect. Hence, it was fitting that temporal rewards and punishments were used to enforce the Old Law; such incentives suit man in his imperfect state.
100. The Moral Precepts of the Old Law
1. All the moral precepts of the Old Law belong to the natural law, that is the eternal law as recognized, in moral matters, by sound human reason. But the moral precepts of the Old Law do not all belong to the natural law in the same way. Some are manifest expressions of the natural law; others are derived from the natural law, either by human reason or by supernatural illumination.
2. The moral precepts of the Old Law cover the ground adequately to put human reason into its right order towards God. These precepts, with their associated counsels, touch upon all the virtues.
3. All the moral precepts of the Old Law are summed up in the Decalogue, that is, in the Ten Commandments.
4. The precepts of the Decalogue are specifically distinct commands and prohibitions. Three of the Ten Commandments regulate human conduct as directly referring to God; the other seven regulate man's conduct, under God, towards his fellowman.
5. The Decalogue directs man to God by way of reverence, fidelity, and service. It regulates man's conduct towards his fellows by requiring special reverence for parents, and forbidding evil and harmful deeds (killing, stealing, adultery), words (false witness), and thoughts and desires (covetousness).
6. The Decalogue presents its precepts of command and prohibition in an admirable order.
7. The Commandments are clearly, plainly, and suitably formulated.
8. The Decalogue expresses the will of God. If man does not fulfill its precepts, he cannot conform to the will of God and attain his true end. Hence, the precepts of the Decalogue are essential precepts which never admit of a dispensation.
9. To fulfill a law perfectly, a human act must be performed knowingly, freely, and from a settled habit of virtue. Yet a law is fulfilled sufficiently by the human act which observes it knowingly and freely. A man ought to have the virtue from which obedience to law flows readily. This is a requirement of the natural law, but it is not included in the prescription of any individual law. Thus, the man who honors his parents now, fulfills the law now, whether he has the fixed habit of honoring his parents or not.
10. Moral virtues are exercised perfectly only when they are exercised in, with, or through charity. Charity is thus the mode of every moral virtue. Now, strictly speaking, the mode of a virtue does not fall under the prescription or law of a virtue. Thus, if a person have the habit or virtue of obedience, and act obediently in a certain matter, he observes the law of obedience, even though his obedience in this instance is from policy and not from charity. He has a fault, of course, but his fault is not disobedience; he fulfills the law of obedience.
11. All the moral precepts of the Old Law are summed up, but not fully expressed, in the Ten Commandments. There are special commandments, given by Moses and Aaron for the guidance of the Chosen People in special circumstances and under particular conditions; these are all implied in the Decalogue; they are corollaries to it.
12. The moral precepts of the Old Law were to guide men to good and to prepare them for Christ. But the fulfilling of these precepts could not, of itself, confer grace, in which is justification.
101. Ceremonial Precepts of the Old Law
1. The ceremonial precepts of the Old Law were divinely determined ways of giving God proper external worship. Now, the duty of worshiping God, outwardly as well as interiorly, rests on man as a moral obligation. Hence, the ceremonial precepts were determinate applications of the moral law.
2. The fullness of revelation had not been made when the Old Law was promulgated. Hence, it was fitting that the ceremonies prescribed in the Old Law should look forward to that fullness: they should have a figurative and prophetic meaning; they should prophetically refer to Christ and His Church and the way to heaven opened by the Christian dispensation. And so indeed they do.
3. The Old Law had many ceremonial precepts to instruct and guide the people, and to counteract their tendency to idolatry.
4. The ceremonies of the Old Law may be classified under four heads: sacrifices; sacred things (tabernacles, vessels, instruments of worship); purifying preparations for divine worship (sometimes called consecrations or sacraments); and observances with reference to special food, vestments, actions, etc.
102. Reasons for the Ceremonial Precepts of the Old Law
1. Since the ceremonial precepts were instituted by divine wisdom, they were most reasonable means to a necessary end.
2. Worship conducted according to the ceremonial precepts was partly direct worship of God and partly a prefiguring of Christ and his Church.
3. Sacrifice is the highest act of religion. It directs men's minds to God, to recognize him as creator and lord of all. It withdraws men from the worship of false gods. According to its importance, sacrifice in the Old Law was the most vivid of all ceremonial proceedings in prefiguring the New Law; it forecast in a striking way the coming of the perfect sacrifice, that of the cross.
4. The very instruments and vestments used in the ceremonial service of the Old Law were treated with ceremonious reverence. Thus were men's minds impressed with the truth that the formal worship of God is no routine action of ordinary life.
5. The sacred things and the purifying preparations (such as washings, sprinkling with ashes, prescribed anointings, and so forth) were significant both as contributing to the formal worship of God and to the foreshadowing of Christ.
6. And the observances (clean and unclean foods, special garments, planting of divers seeds, etc.) helped to keep the minds of an easily distracted people employed with truly religious thoughts, making them aware in all things of their duty to God. The observances also prefigured the perfect food of the Eucharist, the perfect garment of grace, and the fruitful works of Christian penance.
103. Duration of the Ceremonial Precepts
1. When the Old Law was given to men, it made obligatory some ceremonies that were already practiced by good men of prophetic gifts. Other ceremonies were newly set up by the Law.
2. The cleansing ceremonies of the Old Law were to remove irregularities of a material nature which unfitted a man for ceremonial worship. But they could not take away sin from the soul. They expressed faith in the Redeemer to come, and signified the purifying of the soul to be achieved through the merits of Christ. But they could not confer grace.
3. The ceremonial law ceased with the coming of Christ. For, as we have seen, the ceremonies prescribed by the Old Law were also prophecies. And when a prophecy has been fulfilled, it ceases to exist; it has reached its term; it no longer has meaning. Even such Old Law ceremonies as prefigured heaven gave way to the more perfect prophecies and prefigurings of the New Law.
4. It would be seriously sinful to observe the ceremonies of the Old Law as though they still had significance and binding force. This would be a practical denial that the prophecies expressed in the ceremonies had been fulfilled. It would be a practical denial of Christ, and of the necessity and sufficiency of the Christian order.
104. Judicial Directives of the Old Law
1. Man has the moral obligation of loving God and neighbor. The ceremonial precepts of the Old Law regulated man's moral obligation to God. The judicial precepts or directives regulated man's moral obligation towards his neighbor. Thus both ceremonies and judicial precepts were rooted in the moral law.
2. The judicial directives were to regulate the conduct of the people according to justice and equity. Yet even these directives had a prophetic aspect inasmuch as they were to prepare the way for the coming of the sun of justice and the daylight of his divinely equitable dealings with mankind.
3. The judicial precepts had the character of the Old Law itself as "our pedagogue in Christ," that is, a teacher leading men to Christ. When the teacher has led men to Christ, he retires; his work is finished. Hence the judicial precepts of the Old Law were no longer in force after Christ came and founded his Church. All that remains of the Old Law is what it had of the eternal law and the natural law.
4. Judicial precepts of the Old Law were of four classes: precepts for rulers; precepts for citizens with respect to other citizens; precepts for the treatment of strangers and foreigners; precepts for home life.
105. Reasons for the Judicial Precepts
1. The form of government established by divine law for the Chosen People was partly monarchy, partly aristocracy, and partly democracy. Moses and his successors governed as kings; there were seventy elders to assist in the rule; these elders were raised to their aristocratic status from the ranks of the people and by the votes of the people.
2. The judicial precepts of the Old Law were admirably suited to the people; they regulated acts and holdings in a just and effective way; they guarded the rights of individuals and of society.
3. The judicial precepts of the Old Law made kind and just provision for foreigners passing through the country or coming to dwell in it. As regards hostile foreigners, the precepts required that war be undertaken only after offers of peace and efforts to maintain it; that once in war the people should persevere bravely, trusting in God; that after victory the people should be moderate in conduct, not vengeful or destructive.
4. As for home life, the precepts of the Old Law gave fitting directions to husband and wife, to parents and children, to masters and servants, and to young couples about to marry.
106. The New Law
1. The New Law is the law of the New Testament. In essence, it is the law of grace given through faith in Christ. In a secondary way, the New Law is a written law prescribing directives for the receiving and using of grace.
2. The New Law as grace, justifies; that is, it takes away sin from a man's soul. The New Law as teaching or as doctrine, does not justify; it shows the way to justification.
3. It was notably fitting that the New Law came when it did, not earlier. The promise of the New Law was, indeed, given immediately after Adam's sin. But the fulfillment of the promise was rightly deferred for a long time, and this for two reasons: first, that man might properly prepare himself for its wondrous benefits; second, that man might have a thorough realization of his own inadequacy, his weakness, his need of redemption and grace.
4. The New Law is, by its nature, the proximate preparation for heaven. It is not a promise or prophecy of some more perfect state to be attained in this world. The New Law is a fulfillment; nothing further, nothing more perfect, can be conceived for this present life. Therefore, the New Law will not give way to another Law, but will last to the end of the world.
107. The New Law and the Old Law Compared
1. The New Law and the Old Law are at one in their effort to bring man into proper order with God. But the Laws are otherwise distinct. The Old Law stands to the New Law as imperfect to perfect, as promise to fulfillment, as childhood to perfect manhood.
2. The Old Law could not move man to righteousness (justification, grace), but it could prepare man for righteousness, could foreshadow it, and promise it. The New Law fulfills the promise by making men righteous in the grace of Christ. The New Law brings the substance of Christ to take the place of the shadow of prophecy and prefiguring set forth in the Old Law. Even the moral precepts of the Old Law, though eternal in value, were perfected in the New; these precepts were made more definite and clear by our Lord's teaching, and had the counsels of perfection added to them.
3. The New Law is the flowering and fruitage of what was, in the Old Law, the seed. Thus, the New Law was contained in the Old, not formally or as such, but virtually as a plant is contained in the seed from which it springs.
4. The New Law imposes a lighter burden than the Old Law, in the sense that it has not so many ceremonies to be performed with painful accuracy and bothersome frequency. Yet the New Law imposes a heavier burden than the Old, inasmuch as it demands the unceasing practice of virtue in the spirit of promptitude and joy. And hence St. Augustine (In John v 3) says that Christ's commandments "are not heavy to the man that loveth, but they are a burden to him that loveth not."
108. The Content of the New Law
1. One who lives by the New Law of grace must show a life of worthy deeds. Hence the New Law legislates for external acts as well as for internal acts and virtues. Grace is imparted by certain external and sensible signs, and grace in the soul shows forth in suitable external conduct.
2. The external signs and producers of grace are the seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, penance, Holy Eucharist, extreme unction, order, matrimony. The sacraments are, in their order, necessary and sufficient for the sanctifying and saving of men. The proper use of grace gained by the sacraments is indicated in the eternal moral precepts.
3. The New Law directs man's interior acts by prohibiting evil thoughts and desires, and by directing man's intention towards his external good; it forbids rash judgments; it teaches prayer and watchfulness.
4. The New Law also proposes the counsels by which a man may the more speedily attain perfection. These are the counsels of poverty, chastity, obedience. By following the counsels, man surrenders lawful but distracting things, and is wholly concerned with the things of God and his eternal salvation. The counsels enable a man to counteract, powerfully and directly, the evil influences found in the world: poverty counteracts the concupiscence of the eyes, chastity counteracts the concupiscence of the flesh, obedience counteracts the pride of life.