Prospects for the Inclusion of the Thomistic Concept of Ius in Contemporary Legal Philosophy
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
From the Publisher
Chapter 10
How can the Thomistic concept of ius inform contemporary legal philosophy ? The instinct of the jurisprudence scholar is to begin at the most general and abstract level of analysis. But I have decided to take a different approach, beginning at the very particular—a simple but canonical case in American tort law—and telescoping outward to inquiries considering the nature of tort law, the nature of private law as a whole, and then broader methodological considerations about law in general. Along the way, I will identify how the Thomistic understanding of ius can clarify, illuminate, or challenge contemporary arguments about these subjects. Extended discussions of American tort law and theory may seem out of place when pursuing foundational, universal questions. But at the same time, starting small and working outward also seems fitting for this topic. The basic insight of the juridical realist is that there are things in the world to which a person is entitled that others are indebted to respect, and that the core of justice is the simple act of rendering a person his ius. The most abstract view of the juridical character of natural law must account for, and indeed orient itself around, that humble transaction. As a threshold matter, I am assuming for purposes of this chapter the soundness of the juridical realist interpretation of Aquinas’s conception of ius as offered by Villey and Hervada and synthesized recently by Fr. Petar Popović.
Recommended Citation
Pojanowski, Jeffrey A., "Prospects for the Inclusion of the Thomistic Concept of Ius in Contemporary Legal Philosophy" (2024). Book Chapters. 127.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/book_chapters/127
Publication Information
in The Concept of Ius and the Nature of Law in Thomas Aquinas 183 (Loic-Marie Le bot & Petar Popović eds., 2024).