Editing Natural law (section)

==== Catholic natural law jurisprudence ====
{{see also|Treatise on Law|Determinatio}}
{{Catholic philosophy |expanded=no}}

===== Early natural Christian law thinkers=====

In Catholic countries in the tradition of the early Christian law and in the twelfth century, [[Gratian (jurist)|Gratian]] equated the natural law with divine law. [[Albertus Magnus]] would address the subject a century later, and his pupil, [[Thomas Aquinas]], in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'' [[Treatise on Law|I-II qq. 90–106]], restored natural law to its independent state, asserting natural law as the rational creature's participation in the eternal law.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2091.htm#article2 Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 91, Art. 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704182120/http://www.newadvent.org/summa/2091.htm |date=2007-07-04 }} "I answer that"</ref> Yet, since human reason could not fully comprehend the [[eternal law]], it needed to be supplemented by revealed [[divine law]]. (See also [[Biblical law in Christianity]].<ref>''Summa Theologica'', Q. 95, A. 2.</ref>)

=====Thomas Aquinas=====

Aquinas taught that all human or positive laws were to be judged by their conformity to the natural law. An unjust law is not a law, in the full sense of the word. It retains merely the 'appearance' of law insofar as it is duly constituted and enforced in the same way a just law is, but is itself a 'perversion of law.'<ref>''Summa Theologica,'' Q. 95, A. 2.</ref> At this point, the natural law was not only used to pass judgment on the moral worth of various laws, but also to determine what those laws meant in the first place. This principle laid the seed for possible [[Tyrannicide|societal tension with reference to tyrants]].<ref name="Burns">{{cite journal|last=Burns|first=Tony|year=2000|title=Aquinas's Two Doctrines of Natural Law|journal=Political Studies|volume=48|pages=929–946|doi=10.1111/1467-9248.00288|issue=5|s2cid=143492747}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]] holds the view of natural law introduced by [[Albertus Magnus]] and elaborated by [[Thomas Aquinas]],<ref>Pope John Paul II, [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html ''Veritatis Splendor''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027082206/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html |date=2014-10-27 }}, n. 44; International Theological Commission, [http://www.pathsoflove.com/universal-ethics-natural-law.html ''The Search for Universal Ethics: A New Look at the Natural Law''], n. 37.</ref> particularly in his ''[[Summa Theologica]]'', and often as filtered through the [[School of Salamanca]]. This view is also shared by some [[Protestant]]s,<ref>''A Biblical Case for Natural Law'', by David VanDrunen. Studies in Christian Social Ethics and Economics, no. 1. Grand Rapids: Acton Institute, 2006.</ref> and was delineated by [[Anglican]] writer [[C. S. Lewis]] in his works ''[[Mere Christianity]]'' and ''[[The Abolition of Man]]''.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite book|title=Man's "natural powers": essays for and about C. S. Lewis|first=Raymond Paul |last=Tripp|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvRaAAAAMAAJ&q=Natural+Law+C.S.+Lewis|publisher=Society for New Language Study|year=1975|isbn=978-0-905019-01-7}}</ref>

The Catholic Church understands human beings to consist of body and soul, and that the two are inextricably linked.<ref>Pope John Paul II, [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html ''Veritatis Splendor''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027082206/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html |date=2014-10-27 }}, n. 48.</ref> Humans are capable of discerning the difference between [[good and evil]] because they have a [[conscience]].<ref>Pope John Paul II, [https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html ''Veritatis Splendor''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141027082206/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html |date=2014-10-27 }}, n. 54 ff.</ref> There are many manifestations of the good that we can pursue. Some, like [[procreation]], are common to other animals, while others, like the pursuit of truth, are inclinations peculiar to the capacities of human beings.<ref>International Theological Commission, [http://www.pathsoflove.com/universal-ethics-natural-law.html ''The Search for Universal Ethics: A New Look at the Natural Law''], n. 46.</ref>

To know what is right, one must use one's reason and apply it to Thomas Aquinas' precepts. This reason is believed to be embodied, in its most abstract form, in the concept of a primary precept: "Good is to be sought, evil avoided."<ref>''[[Summa Theologica]]'' I–II, Q. 94, A. 2.</ref> Aquinas explains that:

{{blockquote|
there belongs to the natural law, first, certain most general precepts, that are known to all; and secondly, certain secondary and more detailed precepts, which are, as it were, conclusions following closely from first principles. As to those general principles, the natural law, in the abstract, can nowise be blotted out from men's hearts. But it is blotted out in the case of a particular action, insofar as reason is hindered from applying the general principle to a particular point of practice, on account of concupiscence or some other passion, as stated above (77, 2). But as to the other, i.e., the secondary precepts, the natural law can be blotted out from the human heart, either by evil persuasions, just as in speculative matters errors occur in respect of necessary conclusions; or by vicious customs and corrupt habits, as among some men, theft, and even unnatural vices, as the Apostle states (Rm. i), were not esteemed sinful.<ref>''[[Summa Theologica]]'' I–II, Q. 94, A. 6.</ref>}}

However, while the primary and immediate precepts cannot be "blotted out", the secondary precepts can be. Therefore, for a deontological ethical theory they are open to a surprisingly large amount of interpretation and flexibility. Any rule that helps humanity to live up to the primary or subsidiary precepts can be a secondary precept, for example:
* Drunkenness is wrong because it injures one's health, and worse, destroys one's ability to reason, which is fundamental to humans as rational animals (i.e., does not support self-preservation).
* Theft is wrong because it destroys social relations, and humans are by nature social animals (i.e., does not support the subsidiary precept of living in society).

Natural moral law is concerned with both exterior and interior acts, also known as action and motive. Simply doing the right thing is not enough; to be truly moral one's motive must be right as well. For example, helping an old lady across the road (good exterior act) to impress someone (bad interior act) is wrong. However, good intentions do not always lead to good actions. The motive must coincide with the cardinal or theological virtues. [[Cardinal virtues]] are acquired through reason applied to nature; they are:
# [[Prudence]]
# [[Justice (virtue)|Justice]]
# [[Temperance (virtue)|Temperance]]
# [[Cardinal virtues|Fortitude]]

The [[theological virtues]] are:

# [[Faith in Christianity|Faith]]
# [[Hope (virtue)|Hope]]
# [[Charity (virtue)|Charity]]

According to Aquinas, to lack any of these virtues is to lack the ability to make a moral choice. For example, consider a person who possesses the virtues of justice, prudence, and fortitude, yet lacks temperance. Due to their lack of self-control and desire for pleasure, despite their good intentions, they will find themself swaying from the moral path.

=====School of Salamanca=====
{{main|School of Salamanca}}

Based on the works of Thomas Aquinas, the members of the School of Salamanca were in the 16th and 17th centuries the first people to develop a modern approach of natural law, which greatly influence [[Grotius]].{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=62}} For [[Leonardus Lessius]], natural law ensues from the rational nature and the natural state of everything: that way it is immutable on the contrary of positive law, which stems from divine or human will.{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=83}}

Jurists and theologians claimed thus the right to observe the conformity of the positive law with natural law. For [[Domingo de Soto]], the theologians task is to assess the moral foundations of civil law.{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=43}} Due to this review right based on natural law, Soto criticised the new Spanish charities' laws on the pretext that they violated the fondamental rights of the poors,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Decock|first1=Wim|title=Mendicité et migration. Domingo de Soto, O.P., sur les droits fondamentaux des pauvres|journal=Revue de droit canonique|volume=72|issue=1–2|date=2022|pages=243–265 |language=fr}}</ref> or that [[Juan de Mariana]] considered that the consent of population was needed in matter of taxation or money alteration.<ref>{{cite book|language=en|last1=Decock|first1=Wim|chapter=Spanish Scholastics on Money and Credit|title=Money in the Western Legal Tradition: Middle Ages to Bretton Woods|editor1-first=D. |editor1-last=Fox|editor2-first=W. |editor2-last=Ernst|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2016|pages=272–277}}</ref> Criticized by Protestant thinkers like {{ill|Friedrich Balduin|de}} and [[Samuel von Pufendorf]],{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=48-49}} this view was salvage by the pope [[Pope Leo XIII|Leo XIII]] in this encyclical {{lang|la|[[Sapientiae Christianae]]}}, in which he asked the members of clergy to analyse modern legislation in view of higher norms.<ref>{{cite book|language=en|last1=Decock|first1=Wim|chapter=Neo-thomism, Law and Society. A Prolegomenon to Further Study|title=Neo-Thomism in Action. Law and Society Reshaped by Neo-Scholastic Philosophy. 1880–1960|editor1-first=W. |editor1-last=Decock|editor2-first=B. |editor2-last=Raymaekers|editor3-first=P. |editor3-last=Heyrman|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Louvain|date=2021|page=18}}</ref>

Natural law played also a great role in the diffusion of a contractual consensualism.{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=144}} First recognize by [[glossator]]s and [[postglossator]]s before the ecclesiastic courts,{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=109}} it was only in the 16th century that civil law allowed the principle of the binding nature of contracts on the basis of pure consent.{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=153–162}} As [[Pedro de Oñate]] said, "Consequently, natural law, canon law and Hispanic law entirely agree and innumerable difficulties, frauds, litigations and disputes have been removed thanks to such great consensus and clarity in the laws. To the contracting parties, liberty has very wisely been restored".<ref>[[Pedro de Oñate]], ''De Contractibus'', t.1, tract.1, disp.2, sect.5, num.166, p.40</ref>

Besides, natural law also requires the respect of the commutative justice in contractual relations:{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=508}} both parties are bound to respect the notion of [[just price]]s{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=523}} on penalty of sin.{{sfn|Decock|2013|p=561}}

=====Modern catechism=====

The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] describes it in the following way: "The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie: 'The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin&nbsp;... But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.{{' "}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText - I. The Natural Moral Law |url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P6U.HTM|access-date=2020-11-17|website=The Holy See |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124163251/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P6U.HTM |archive-date= Jan 24, 2021 }}</ref>

The natural law consists, for the Catholic Church, of one supreme and universal principle from which are derived all our [[Natural morality|natural moral]] obligations or duties. Thomas Aquinas resumes the various ideas of Catholic moral thinkers about what this principle is: since good is what primarily falls under the apprehension of the practical reason, the supreme principle of moral action must have the good as its central idea, and therefore the supreme principle is that good is to be done and evil avoided.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |title=Natural Law|url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09076a.htm|access-date=2020-11-17|via=New Advent |last1=Fox |first1=J. |date=1910}}</ref>