Aquinas on Crime

by Nemeth, Charles P.

• ISBN13: 9781587310317
• ISBN10: 1587310317
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-15
• Publisher: St Augustine Pr Inc

Summary

Not much escapes the intellect and imagination of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. Whether it be love, children, education, moral reasoning, happiness or the proper dispositions for human existence, St. Thomas seems an expert in all of it. Crime and criminal conduct are no exceptions to this general tendency with him. Not only does he have much to say about it, what he relates is perpetually fresh and surely the bedrock of what is now taken for granted. In this short treatise, the focus targets St. Thomas's criminal codification - his law of crimes.

Author Biography

Charles P. Nemeth is Director of Graduate Legal Studies at California University of Pennsylvania and the university's Institute for Law and Public Policy

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. x
Preface	p. xi
Aquinas and the Idea of Law	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The Thomistic Idea of Law	p. 3
Law as the "Rule and Measure" of Reason	p. 4
Law as an Instrument of the Common Good	p. 6
Law as Good and End	p. 6
The Various Kinds of Law	p. 7
The Eternal Law	p. 8
The Natural Law	p. 10
The Divine Law	p. 13
The Human Law	p. 17
The Necessity of Human Law	p. 18
Human Law is Derivative	p. 19
Summary	p. 22
Aquinas on Criminal Culpability	p. 30
Introduction	p. 30
Freedom and Criminal Culpability	p. 30
Free Choice and Criminal Culpability	p. 38
Good and Evil in Human Action	p. 39
Improper Object	p. 41
The Sum of Circumstances	p. 42
The Proper End and the Concept of Evil	p. 43
Summary	p. 45
Crimes against the Person	p. 50
Introduction	p. 50
Criminal Homicide	p. 50
Homicide by Accidental Means	p. 51
Homicide in Self-Defense	p. 54
Abortion and Infanticide	p. 57
Mayhem	p. 59
Assault	p. 62
Corporal Punishment and Child Abuse	p. 63
Summary	p. 64
Aquinas on Sexual Offenses	p. 67
Introduction	p. 67
Rape	p. 68
Sodomy	p. 72
Incest	p. 74
Bestiality	p. 76
Adultery	p. 77
Fornication	p. 78
Illegitimacy	p. 79
Marriage and the Impact of Fornication	p. 81
Fornication and Objectification of the Human Person	p. 82
Bigamy	p. 83
Polygamy	p. 84
Summary	p. 86
Aquinas on Property Offenses	p. 90
Introduction	p. 90
The Right to Property	p. 90
Theft and Stealing	p. 93
The "Taking"	p. 93
Theft and Secrecy	p. 94
Theft and Gravity	p. 97
Value of Property	p. 97
Robbery	p. 99
Fraud	p. 100
Fraud in the Price	p. 101
Fraud and Commercial Practice	p. 101
Fraud in the Exchange	p. 102
Defects in the Exchange	p. 103
Summary	p. 105
Offenses Involving Judicial Process	p. 108
Introduction	p. 108
Lawyers and Truth	p. 110
The Lawyer as Advocate	p. 111
Perjury	p. 113
Malicious Prosecution	p. 113
Judges and Truth	p. 115
Defendants and Truth	p. 117
Summary	p. 119
Aquinas On Offenses Against Public Morality	p. 122
Introduction	p. 122
Public Drunkenness and Disorder	p. 122
Drunkenness and Mitigation	p. 125
Disorderly Conduct/Public Fighting	p. 126
Hatred and Human Interaction	p. 126
Discord	p. 127
Contention	p. 128
Strife	p. 128
Sedition	p. 129
Public Indecency	p. 130
Obscenity	p. 132
Summary	p. 133
Law, Justice, Sentencing and Punishment	p. 136
Introduction	p. 136
Punishment as Reciprocity	p. 136
Types of Punishment and Penalties in Thomistic Jurisprudence	p. 140
Corporal Punishment	p. 140
Imprisonment	p. 142
The Death Penalty	p. 143
Restitution	p. 146
Punishment and Salvation	p. 147
Summary	p. 148
Index	p. 152
About the Author
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