Primary sourceBook
Treatise on Law
Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas's section of the Summa Theologiae on eternal, natural and human law, foundational to later legal and political thought.
Written by Aquinas, this treatise became a foundation for later natural law theory in politics and ethics.
About this source
What it is
This is part of the Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas. It examines different kinds of law, including eternal law, natural law and human law, and discusses their purposes and limits.
Why it matters
Aquinas's ideas about natural law influenced centuries of legal and political philosophy, including later debates about justice and human rights. His attempt to connect divine order, nature and human government shows how medieval thinkers tried to link religion with practical rule-making.
Look closer
- Why does Aquinas distinguish between eternal, natural and human law?
- What do his questions about the "power" and "change" of law suggest about how he viewed authority?
- How might rulers or lawyers of his time have used ideas like these?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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