2. LAW AND ETHICS
Law is different from ethics.
Ethics involves following not only the letter
of the law but also its spirit. Ethics are not
codified in books.
Ethics constitute a higher standard than
that of law
Law dictates a minimum standards of
behavior required of a person.
3. DEFINITION OF LAW
Law is defined as rule of conduct determined by a
controlling legal authority and having binding legal force.
Law is that which is laid down, ordained or established. It
is a body of rules of action prescribed by controlling legal
authority and having binding legal force.
It is a written code of rules that must be obeyed by
citizens or those citizens will be subject to sanctions or
legal consequences. Law is a solemn expression of the
will of the supreme power of the state.
4. AQUINAS DEFINES
A law is “an ordinance of reason directed
toward the common good and
promulgated by one who has the care of
the community” (Ordinatio rationis ad
bonum commune ab eo qui communitatis
curam habet, promulgata)
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae
I a 2ae, Q. 90, art.4:
5. POINTS IN AQUINAS
DEFINITION
A law is an ordinance
A law is an ordinance of reason
A law is an ordinance of reason directed toward
the common good
A law is promulgated: promulgation is making
the law known to those whom it binds.
A law is an ordinance of reason directed toward
common good and promulgated by the one who
has the care of the community.
6. KINDS OF LAW
Laws can be viewed from various
standpoints and accordingly we distinguish
between four different types of laws:
1. Obligation
2. Legislator
3. Promulgation
4. duration.
7. OBLIGATION
From the standpoint of the obligation
imposed by the law, we distinguish
between four kinds of laws:
1. Affirmative (COMMAND)
2. Negative (PROHIBITION)
3. Permissive (ALLOWING)
4. penal laws (PUNISHMENT)
8. LEGISLATOR
Viewed from the standpoint of legislator
we distinguish between divine and human
laws.
Divine laws emanate from God as the
legislator. Eg. Decalogue.
Human laws are enacted by legitimate
human authority. Eg. By the state as
properly constituted and recognized.
9. PROMULGATION
Viewed from the standpoint of promulgation,
we distinguish between natural law and positive
law.
Natural law is a law in so far as it is manifested
by the natural light of human reason reflecting
on the fundamental principles of morality.
Positive law is a law enacted by legitimate
authority, such as the state, supplementing the
provisions of natural law and made in view of the
special needs of the community.
10. DURATION
Viewed from the standpoint of duration,
we distinguish between eternal law, and
temporal law.
Eternal law is the plan of God’s wisdom directing
all created things toward the realization of their
natural end.
Temporal laws are those enacted, not from
eternity, but in time by temporal authorities, for
example, by the state, through the legislative
channels.
12. What is Natural Law?
“In its simplest definition, natural law is that ‘unwritten law’
that is more or less the same for everyone everywhere. To
be more exact, natural law is the concept of a body of moral
principles that is common to all humankind and, as generally
posited, is recognizable by human reason alone. Natural law
is therefore distinguished from -- and provides a standard
for -- positive law, the formal legal enactments of a particular
society.” ~ Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty
13. Natural Law Theory:
The idea initially arose among the Jews,
Greeks, and Romans, esp. promoted by
Judaism and Stoics. But it came to the
foreground in the Christian tradition as
thinkers drew from both philosophy and the
Bible to devise a theory of morality and
politics that could be understood to be
universally applicable.
Natural Rights: Entitlements with which
humans are endowed by nature or by virtue
of their status as being human.
14. Natural Law Theory:
Things in nature have a nature.
Things are “bad” when they are unnatural.
Things are “good” when they fulfill their
nature.
People are good when they fulfill their true
nature; bad humans are those who don’t.
Moral law is the natural law: the law that
requires us to act in accordance with our
nature.
15. Natural Law Theory:
“At its most basic, natural law theory tells
us that actions are right just because they
are natural, and wrong just because they
are unnatural. And people are good to the
extent that they fulfill their true nature, bad
insofar as thy flout it.” ~ Russ Shafer
Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, 72.
16. Aquinas on Natural Law
Theory:
Natural law is not innate for we are not
born knowing it. With the capability of
understanding we come to understand
what is meant by “murder” and by
“wrong.”
Natural law is not merely biological
instinct though it does take into account of
certain biological realities.
Natural law is not mere custom-though
customs of almost all times and places
more or less acknowledge it.
Natural law is not a law of nature in the
same sense that gravitation is a law of
nature.
17. Aquinas: 4 Kinds of Law:
Aquinas defines “law” in general as “an
ordinance of reason for the common good,
made by him who has care of the community,
and promulgated.”
The four kinds of law are:
The Eternal Law;
The Natural Law;
The Human Law;
The Divine Law.
18. The Eternal Law:
It is God’s “plan” for the world.
Flowing from God who is eternal and timeless,
there is a “universal rational orderliness” that is
“characteristic of the whole universe.”
The whole community of the universe is
governed by God, the ruler of the Universe.
St. Augustine described it as “the reason or the
will of God, who commands us to respect the
natural order and forbids us to disturb it.”
19. The Natural Law:
All things partake somewhat of the eternal law.
“[The] light of natural reason, whereby we discern what
is good and what is evil, which is the function of the
natural law, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the
Divine Light. It is therefore evident that the natural law is
nothing else than the rational creature’s participation of
the Divine Law.” ~ Aquinas, S.T. I, II, Q. 91, art 2.
The first, self-evident precept of the natural law is that
“good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be
avoided. All other precepts of the natural law are based
on this self-evident law.
20. The Human Law:
Since the eternal law is the plan of
government in the Chief Governor (GOD),
all the plans of government in the inferior
governors, must be derived from the
eternal law.
21. The Divine Law:
The Scriptures. Besides the natural and
human it was necessary for the directing
of human conduct to have Divine Law: The
Old and New Testament.
Thus, the divine law compliments the
natural law.
22. Divine Law Compliments Natural & Human law.
“It is necessary for man to accept by faith not only things
which are above reason, but also those which can be
known by reason: and this for three motives. First, in
order that man may arrive more quickly at the knowledge
of Divine truth…. Second,... In order that the knowledge of
God may be more general. For many are unable to make
progress in the study of science, either through dullness of
mind, or through having a number of occupations and
temporal needs, or even through laziness in learning, all of
whom would be altogether deprived of the knowledge of
God, unless Divine things were brought to their knowledge
under the guise of faith.”
He goes on to say…
23. Divine Law Compliments Natural & Human law.
“The third reason is for the sake of certitude. For
human reason is very deficient in things
concerning God. A sign of this is that
philosophers in their researches, by natural
investigation, into human affairs, have fallen into
many errors, and have disagreed among
themselves. And consequently, in order that
mean might have knowledge of God, free of doubt
and uncertainty, it was necessary for divine
matters to be delivered to them by way of faith,
being told to them, as it is were, by God Himself
Who cannot lie” [S.T., II, II, Q. 1, art. 4].
