“Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by one who has care of the community, and promulgated.”

What does it mean?

A command counts as law, for Aquinas, only when it is an ordinance of reason, aimed at the common good, made by whoever has care of the community, and promulgated. Miss any piece and it fails to be law in the full sense, whatever force backs it. A later positivist reading says a properly enacted command is law whether or not it serves the common good, and treats his definition as moral commentary rather than as a test of validity. The sentence is the reply in the Summa, first part of the second part, question 90, article 4.

Did Thomas Aquinas really say this?

The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The classic definition in the standard English of the Summa, first part of the second part, question 90, article 4. It is the reply of a scholastic article, after objections. The Latin is secure. This is a translation.

Where it comes from

Summa Theologiae I–II, question 90, article 4

Approximate date: c. 1270.

How to use it

A workplace in Slough circulates a new rota rule by private message from someone who does not manage the team, aimed at making one person easier to schedule. Test it against the four parts: reason, the common good, proper authority, and a public declaration. A secret arbitrary order fails his definition even when the software enforces it, though the definition alone does not say what the team should do next.

A mindset reading

Definition here is a tool that does moral work, making some commands look like law and others look like mere force. A rival use treats the four parts as a slogan for liking only the rules one already likes, which is looser than the test. The parts can condemn a convenient rule, and they can defend an inconvenient one that still meets them.

Understand the philosophy

Question 90 opens the treatise on law, which goes on to distinguish eternal, natural, human, and divine law. The key term is law, an ordinance of reason for the common good, not any command that happens to be obeyed. Natural law is his bridge from practical reason to moral order, and human law is legitimate when it derives from that order and is properly published. The sentence is one step inside a scholastic article.

Related

• “Justice is a habit whereby a man renders to each one his due by a constant and perpetual will.”

  Paraphrase or translation

• “The existence of God can be proved in five ways.”

  Paraphrase or translation

• “Good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.”

  Paraphrase or translation

Related fallacy. Straw man. A straw man replaces someone’s actual view with a worse or simpler one, then attacks the substitute. The real view is left standing. Quoting loosely, dropping a qualification, or leaping to an extreme all do this.

Practise the nine skills