ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND LAW
By Fr. James Brent, O.P.
St. Thomas Aquinas’ teaching on law
is one of his most important
contributions to Catholic moral and
social teaching. For St. Thomas, law
is an expression of the wisdom of
a legitimate authority who has care
of the common good. With this
understanding in mind, he identifies
several forms of law: the eternal law,
natural law, and civil law.
His teaching on the natural law is
of particular significance. St. Thomas
teaches that there are at least
some immutable and universal moral
principles, that all human beings are
aware of these principles to some extent,
and that, basing themselves on these
principles, human beings can determine
whether civil laws (the laws laid down
by human rulers) are just and deserving
of obedience.
That there is such a higher law was
one of the fundamental convictions
of the founders of the United States.
The reality of it was asserted in the
first line of the Declaration of
Independence, and formed the main
supposition for the entire argument
“Even two hundred years before the founding of the
United States, Dominicans appealed to the natural
law to oppose injustice.”
Faith & Reason - Volume III, Issue I