The Eternal Law

Law is nothing else than a dictate of practical reason in a ruler who governs some perfect community.
Now it is clear that, granted the world is governed by divine providence, the while community of the
universe is governed by divine reason. And, therefore, the very idea of the governance of things existing
in the divine mind has the nature of law, and since divine reason transcends time, this conception must
be eternal. And this plan looks principally to the order of the whole to its common good.

In a human manner of speaking, It might be said that God, the Creator, has a plan for the world. God,
of course, is eternal, and eternity is timeless. He does not make plans for the future and then proceed to
carry them out. Rather a universal rational orderliness is characteristic of the whole universe. The
whole community of the universe is governed by divine reason. Wherefore the very idea of the
government of things in God the Ruler of the universe, has the nature of a law. This law, the Divine
Reasons conception of things is called by Saint Thomas the eternal law.

The Natural Law

The natural law is therefore a rule of reason promulgated by God in mans nature, whereby man can
discern how he should act.

Promulgated by the very fact that God instilled it into mans mind so as to be known by him naturally.

The Human Law

It is from the precepts of the natural law, as from general and indemonstrable principles, that the
human reason needs to proceed to the more particular determination of certain matters. These
particular determinations, devised by human reason, are called human laws, provided the other
essential conditions of law be observed. Those essential conditions of law are encompassed in Saint
Thomas definition of law, which, as we have seen, is an ordinance of reason for the common good,
made by him who cares the community and promulgated. Since the eternal law is the plan of
government in the chief governor, all the plans of government in the inferior governors must be derived
from the eternal law. But these plans of inferior governors are all other laws besides the eternal law.
Therefore all laws, in so far as they partake of tight reason, are derived from the eternal law.
St. Thomas Aquinas on the Natural Law.

Aquinas bases his doctine on the natural law, as one would expect, on his understanding of God and His
relation to His creation. He grounds his theory of natural law in the notion of an eternal law (in God). In
asking whether there is an eternal law, he begins by stating a general definition of all law: Law is a
dictate of reason from the ruler for the community he rules. This dictate of reason is first and foremost
within the reason or intellect of the ruler. It is the idea of what should be done to insure the well
ordered functioning of whatever community the ruler has care for. (It is a fundamental tenet of Aquinas'
political theory that rulers rule for the sake of the governed, i.e. for the good and well-being of those
subject to the ruler.) Since he has elsewhere shown that God rules the world with his reason (since he is
the cause of its being (cf. ST Ia 22, 1-2), Aquinas concludes that God has in His intellect an idea by which
He governs the world. This Idea, in God, for the governance of things is the eternal law. (Summa
TheologiaeI-IIae, 91, 1)

Next, Aquinas asks whether there is in us a natural law. First, he makes a distinction: A law is not only in
the reason of a ruler, but may also be in the thing that is ruled. In the case of the Eternal Law, the things
of creation that are ruled by that Law have it imprinted on the them through their nature or essence.
Since things act according to their nature, they derive their proper acts and ends (final cause) according
to the law that is written into their nature. Everything in nature, insofar as they reflects the order by
which God directs them through their nature for their own benefit, reflects the Eternal Law in their own
natures. (S.T. I-IIae, 91, 2)

The Natural Law, as applied to the case of human beings, requires greater precision because of the fact
that we have reason and free will. It is the our nature humans to act freely (i.e. to be provident for
ourselves and others) by being inclined toward our proper acts and end. That is, we human beings must
exercise our natural reason to discover what is best for us in order to acheive the end to which their
nature inclines. Furhtermore, we must exercise our freedom, by choosing what reason determines to
naturally suited to us, i.e. what is best for our nature. The natural inclination of humans to acheive their
proper end through reason and free will is the natural law. Formally defined, the Natural Law is humans'
participation in the Eternal Law, through reason and will. Humans actively participate in the eternal law
of God (the governance of the world) by using reason in conformity with the Natural Law to discern
what is good and evil.

In applying this universal notion of Natural Law to the human person, one first must decide what it is
that God has ordained human nature to be inclined toward. Since each thing has a nature given it by
God, and each thing has a natural end, so there is a fulfillment to human activity of living. When a
person discovers by reason what the purpose of living is, he or she discover his or her natural end is.
Accepting the medieval dictum "happiness is what all desire" a person is happy when he or she achieves
this natural end.

Aquinas distinguishes different levels of precepts or commands that the Natural Law entails. The most
universal is the command "Good is to be done and pursued and evil avoided." This applies to everything
and everyone, so much so that some consider it to be more of a description or definition of what we
mean by "good." For these philosophers, a thing is "good" just in case it is pursued or done by someone.
Aquinas would agree with this to a certain extent; but he would say that that is a definition of an
apparent good. Thus, this position of Aquinas has a certain phenomenological appeal: a person does
anything and everything he or she does only because that thing at least "appears" to be good. Even
when I choose something that I know is bad for myself, I nevertheless chooses it under some aspect of
good, i.e. as some kind of good. I know the cake is fattening, for example, and I don't choose to eat it as
fattening. I do, however, choose to eat it as tasty (which is an apparent, though not a true, good).

On the level that we share with all substances, the Natural Law commands that we preserve ourselves in
being. Therefore, one of the most basic precepts of the Natural Law is to not commit suicide.
(Nevertheless, suicide can, sadly, be chosen as an apparent good, e.g. as the sessation of pain.) On the
level we share with all living things, the Natural Law commands that we take care of our life, and
transmit that life to the next generation. Thus, almost as basic as the preservation of our lives, the
Natural Law commands us to rear and care for offspring. On the level that is most specific to humans,
the fulfillment of the Natural Law consists in the exercize those activities that are unique of humans, i.e.
knowledge and love, and in a state that is also natural to human persons, i.e. society. The Natural Law,
thus, commands us to develop our rational and moral capacities by growing in the virtues of intellect
(prudence, art, and science) and will (justice, courage, temperance). Natural law also commands those
things that make for the harmonious functioning of society ("Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not steal.")
Human nature also shows that each of us have a destiny beyond this world, too. Man's infinite capacity
to know and love shows that he is destined to know and love an infinite being, God.

All of these levels of precepts so far outlined are only the most basic. "The good is to be done and
pursued and evil is to be avoided" is not very helpful for making actual choices. Therefore, Aquinas
believes that one needs one's reason to be perfected by the virtues, especially prudence, in order to
discover precepts of the Natural Law that are more proximate to the choices that one has to make on a
day to day basis.

The Thomistic notion of Natural Law has its roots, then, in a quite basic understanding of the universe as
caused and cared for by God, and the basic notion of what a law is. It is a fairly sophisticated notion by
which to ground the legitimacy of human law in something more universal than the mere agreement
and decree of legislators. Yet, it allows that what the Natural Law commands or allows is not perfectly
obvious when one gets to the proximate level of commanding or forbidding specific acts. It grounds the
notion that there are some things that are wrong, always and everywhere, i.e. "crimes against
humanity," while avoiding the obvious dificulties of claiming that this is determined by any sort of
human concensus. Nevertheless, it still sees the interplay of people in social and rational discourse as
necessary to determine what in particular the Natural Law requires.
Classical Natural Law Theory

St. Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274) -- the "Angelic Doctor"

Law (in general)

Law = "a certain ordinance of reason [1] for the common good [2] [+ burdens the community equally],
made by him who has the care of the community [3] [with the power to coerce others to obey it], and
promulgated [4]."

[1] "Ordinance of reason": law is created by a being with reason, and must have and end or goal (Greek,
"telos");

[2] "For the common good": the end or goal of law is the common good (Q: does this include the good of
the lawmaker?);

"Consequently, since law is chiefly ordained to the common good, any other precept in regard to some
individual work must be devoid of the nature of law, save in so far as it regards the common good."

Later Aquinas talks about a law that is unjust as to its form, and says "as when burdens, even if ordered
to the common good, are disproportionately imposed on the people"(65). (Q: Is there a further
condition on law, that it be proportionately imposed on people? Or is this requirement contained in the
second condition?)

[3] Made by someone who has the care of the community and the power to coerce others to obey
"coercive power, such as the law should have, in order to prove an efficacious inducement to virtue"

[4] "Promulgated": the law must be "made known to them [those ruled by it] by promulgation"

These conditions are each necessary, and in sum sufficient (depending on the understanding of the
second condition, that is), for law. If any condition fails to be fulfilled, then there is an "act of violence,"
rather than a law.

A law "binds one to act"; the "binding force which is proper to law".

How is this binding achieved? Simply by the fact of promulgation by the one who has the care of the
community: "in order that a law obtain the binding force which is proper to law, it must needs be
applied to the men who have to be ruled by it. Such application is made by its being notified to them by
promulgation. Whereby promulgation is necessary for the law to obtain its force."
Four types of law for Aquinas:

(I) Eternal Law: laws of the universe --- "the whole community of the universe" is governed by God who
"is not subject to time but is eternal"

(II) Divine Law: the revealed word of God (revelation) --- we need to be guided to our 'supernatural
end," our reason being inadequate to reveal it to us

(III) Natural Law: eternal law as it applies to us, which we know by reason: "The natural law is
promulgated by the very fact that God instilled it into men's minds so as to be known by them naturally"

(IV) Human Law: created by us for the purpose of implementing natural law

First precept of Natural Law:

That good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided

"whatever the practical reason naturally apprehends as man's good (or evil) belongs to the precepts of
natural law as something to be done or avoided."

"All those things to which man has a natural inclination are naturally apprehended by reason as being
good and, consequently, as objects of pursuit, and their contraries as evil and objects of avoidance. [...]
Wherefore the order of the precepts of the natural law is according to the order of natural inclinations. "

That is,

1. If X is something to which man has a natural inclination, then X is (naturally) apprehended by practical
reason as being good.

2. If X is (naturally) apprehended by practical reason as being good, then X is a precept of natural law
that x ought to be pursued;

> If X is something to which man has a natural inclination, then it is a

precept of natural law that X ought to be pursued.

Second Precept of Natural Law:

Preserve life and ward off its obstacles

("whatever is a means of preserving human life and of warding off its obstacles")

Natural inclination which man shares with all substances: "the preservation of its own being according
to its nature"

Third precept of Natural Law

Reproduce and raise your offspring

Natural inclination which man shares with all animals: "sexual intercourse, education of offspring, and so
forth".

Fourth precept of Natural Law

Pursue knowledge and live together in society

Natural inclination of man only "to know the truth about God and to live in society"

Negative version of precept: "shun ignorance, avoid offending those among whom one has to live, and
other such things"

First Principles of Natural Law

These four precepts of Natural Law are the "First Principles" or "General Principles" of Natural Law. They
are mutually consistent and cannot conflict with each other. All First Principles are known by all human
beings. All First Principles are binding on all human beings.
"the natural law as to general principles is the same for all both as to rectitude and as to knowledge. But
as to certain matters of detail, which are conclusions, as it were, of those general principles, it is the
same for all in the majority of cases both as to rectitude and as to knowledge, and yet, in some few
cases, it may fail both as to rectitude by reason of certain obstacles and as to knowledge, since, in some,
the reason is perverted by passion or evil habit or an evil disposition of nature"

"natural law is altogether unchangeable in its first principles, but in its secondary principles, which, as
we have said, are like certain proper conclusions closely related to the first principles it may be changed
in some particular cases of rare occurrence through some special causes"

The general principles of Natural Law are always binding (rectitude) and are always known.

Secondary Principles of Natural Law

Secondary principles divide up into those that, it seems, are (i) always binding and always known, and
those that are (ii) always binding but not always known, and those that are (iii) not always binding (and,
by implication, not always known).

(i) Always binding and always known:

Do not murder

(ii) Always binding and not always known:

Do not steal

"theft, although it is expressly contrary to the natural law, was not considered wrong among the
Germans, as Julius Caesar relates"

(iii) Not always binding (and, by implication, not always known).

"goods entrusted to another should be restored"

"Now this is true for the majority of cases, but it may happen in a particular case that it would be
injurious, and therefore unreasonable, to restore goods held in trust, for instance, if they are claimed for
the purpose of fighting against one's country."

Q: Are there secondary principles of Natural Law that are always binding?

A: Yes. The "slaying of the innocent, adultery, and theft are against the natural law."
Q. Doesn't God condone murder, adultery, and theft in the Bible?

A: No. Here are the arguments:

1. Men are guilty of original sin; so God's killing men is not the slaying of the innocent (is not murder).

2. God allots men their wives; so "intercourse with any woman, by the command of God, is neither
adultery nor fornication."

3. Everything belongs to God; so if God orders someone to take something, its not theft.

Q. Doesn't Aquinas condone theft in conditions of extreme need?

A: No. In conditions of extreme need, the item in question no longer belongs to the other person, it
belongs to the person in need:

"It is not theft, properly speaking, to take secretly and use another's property in a case of extreme need:
because that which he takes for the support of his life becomes his own property by reason of that
need." (Summa Theologica, Justice, Q. 66)

Human Law

Human law is derived from Natural Law:

"So too it is that from the precepts of the natural law... the human reason needs to proceed to the more
particular determination of certain matters. These particular determinations, devised by human reason,
are called human laws, provided that the other essential conditions of law be observed."

"The general principles of the natural law cannot be applied to all men in the same way on account of
the great variety of human affairs, and hence arises the diversity of positive laws amongst various
people."

(Human law = positive law)

"Some things are, therefore, derived from the general principles of the natural law by way of conclusion,
e.g. that "one must not kill" may be derived as a conclusion from the principle that "one should do harm
to no man.""

Two different ways to derive Human Law from Natural Law:

Natural Law: No "slaying of the innocent"

Human Law: Do not murder

(2) Derived by way of "specification" or "determination":

Natural Law: "the evil-doer should be punished"

Human Law: the punishment for a DUI is ten days in jail

"while some are derived there from by way of determination, e.g., the law of nature has it that the evil-
doer should be punished; but be punished in this or that way is not directly by natural law but is a
certain determination of it."

When human laws are derived in the first way, then they have the "force" of Natural Law as well as
Human Law. However, when human laws are derived in the second way, they only have the "force" of
Human Law:

"Those things which are derived in the first way [have] some force from the natural law also. But those
things which are derived in the second way have no other force than that of human law."

Natural Law requires that we protect people's lives, have security of person and property, etc., but it
does not require that we, e.g., drive on the right hand side of the road, or not park in front of a fire
hydrant.

(1) Force of Natural Law and Human Law:

Human Law: Do not murder.

(2) Force of Human Law only:

Human Law: Do not drive a car without a driver's license.