Law Flashcards
Is an ordinance of reason promulgated by competent authority for the sake of the common good?
Law
Laws can only be enacted not for the private good of a few citizens
Common Good
The official publication of a law, so that it can come to knowledge of the subjects
Promulgation
4 importance or relevance of moral norms/laws
- Provide the objective criteria for our own conscience to judge what is morally good or evil
- Help our moral development, especially in the formation of our conscience
- Offer the needed moral stability in our lives by acting as a point of reference
- Challenge us to stretch for an ideal beyond our limited experience and correct our moral misconceptions in the process
Laws are necessary in order that it becomes obligatory and where laws can only be enacted by those in charge of the community as a legitimate authority
Promulgation
Law is an obligatory force and not merely as recommendation or suggestion and it must be based on the insights of reason into what is truly good
Ordinance/Degree of Reason
It is the universal law whereby God directs and governs the universe and the ways of human community according to his plan of wisdom and love
Eternal law
It is the civil law and ecclesiastical law
Human law
Is the plan of God in creating the universe and in assigning to each creature their specific nature?
Eternal law
4 kinds (or classes) of law
- Eternal/divine law
- Natural law
- Moral law/revealed law
- Human law
According to St. Thomas, it is the plan flowing from God’s wisdom which directs all actions and movement
Eternal law
It is the old law and the new law or law of the gospel
Moral law/revealed law
Laws which govern the development of living things
Biological laws
It is the law written and engraves in the soul of each and every man because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin
Natural law
Laws which is the participation of eternal law in rational creature
Natural law
Each being tends towards a particular end that revels the will of God which contains the divine blue prints that bring order into the universe by directing all of creation, living or nonliving, to their respective end-goals
Eternal law
Laws which rule both irrational and rational creatures
Physical laws
Laws which governs abstract quality
Mathematical laws
A type of divine wisdom. The creator, therefore, has in himself the type of what creatures are to do to attain their end and purpose
Eternal law
3 reason why we should learn the laws that govern the universe
- We gain freedom
- Freedom within these laws
- Increases our freedom
According to St. Augustine, it is the divine reason and/or the will of God Himself commanding the preservation of natural law and forbidding its disturbance
Eternal law
Pertains to the moral insights of people are capable of knowing by means of their reason, and independently of verbal revelation to God
Natural law
The basic precept of natural
Do good, avoid evil
Is a participation in God’s wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his Creator?
Natural law
Natural law is one and the same for all classes of people possess equal dignity hence possess equal rights
Unity and invariability
The medium of cognition is reason alone
Natural law
God is the author of the laws governing the universe. He designed all the laws of the universe in His own infinite mind
Eternal law
Natural law cannot be changed
Immutability
Governs man’s/woman’s behavior. Contains truths and ethical principles which guide people’s conduct on matters of right or wrong
Moral law
Is a preparation for the Gospel? It is overflowing with wisdom
Old law
5 laws of the Lord
- The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul
- The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple
- The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart
- The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes
- The ordinances of the Lord are true, and all of them just
Is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating through charity? It finds expression above all in the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount
New law
Is the first stage or revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed in the Ten Commandments
Old law
The application of natural law in given societies
Civil laws (state)
The law sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the old law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity
Law of freedom
6 properties of human law
- It is enforceable
- It is concerned with external conduct only
- It is limited to particular groups
- It is historically conditioned
- It has presumptive obligatory force
- It is fallible
Contains regulation promulgated by legitimate human authority intended to preserve peace and harmony directing each members of the society to word towards the common good
Human law
Human law is inevitably changed
It is historically conditioned
Fulfills and surpasses the old law and brings it to perfection: its promises, through the beatitudes of the kingdom of heaven; its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.
New law
It specifies what a person ought or not to do in order to lead one to the highest good and absolute end – God
Moral law
In human law, coercion is necessary
It is enforceable
5 inclinations of human nature and the natural law
- The inclination to the good
- The inclination to self-preservation
- The inclination to sexual union and rearing of offspring
- The inclination to knowledge of the truth
- The inclination to live in society
The law makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear
Law of love
Natural law for all individuals
Universality
The law confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments
Law of grace
The application of divine law to the Christian community
Ecclesiastical law (Church)
The human law is the social order and external compliance of the law
It is concerned with external conduct only
It tells one how to act in relation to God and other individuals
Moral law
Is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom?
New law
The human law is limited only to the community
It is limited to particular groups
2 divisions of human law
- State – civil laws
2. Church – ecclesiastical law
Human Laws must: (5)
- Conform with divine laws
- Promote the common good
- Just and not discriminatory
- Dynamic
- Practicable
3 essential characteristics of natural law
- Universality
- Unity and invariability
- Immutability
In human law, the subjects has no right to disobey the law even have doubts about utility or justice
It has presumptive obligatory force
