Secret Compensation. A Friendly and Lawful Alternative to Lipsius's Political Thought
Decock, Wim
2011 • In De Bom, E.; Janssens, M.; Van Houdt, T.et al. (Eds.) (Un)masking the Realities of Power. Justus Lipsius and the Dynamics of Political Writing in Early Modern Europe
Details of their intimate relationship are revealed by Van Sull K. in his Léonard Lessius de la Compagnie de Jésus (1554-1623), Museum Lessianum, Section Théologique 21 (Louvain-Paris-Bruxelles: 1930) 158-177
and by Van Houdt T., "Gegraveerd portret van Leonardus Lessius", in Tournoy G. et alii (eds.), Lipsius en Leuven. Catalogus van de tentoonstelling in de Centrale Bibliotheek te Leuven, 18 september-17 oktober 1997, Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 13 (Leuven: 1997) nr. 76, 245-249.
see a letter recently edited by Machielssen J. and De Landtsheer J, "Recommending Justus Lipsius: A Letter from Martinus Antonius Delrio to Leonardus Lessius", Lias 34 (2007) 272-282.
See Lipsius J., Monita et exempla politica libri duo, qui virtutes et vitia principum spectant (Antverpiae: ex officina Plantiniana, 1613), lib. 2, cap. 10, p. 142
For example in Lipsius J., Politica, lib. 2, cap. 10, p. 10 (ed. J. Waszink): 'Poëtae [sc. Lucani] illud falsum et improbum: sceptrorum vis tota perit, si pendere iusta | incipit. Oratoris [sc. Ciceronis] hoc verius: ius et aequitas, vincula civitatum.'
The fascination with Roman law as a problem-soving tool is inherent to the Thomistic tradition, see Aubert J. M., Le droit romain dans l'æuvre de Saint Thomas, Bibliothèque Thomiste 30 (Paris: 1955).
Lipsius, Monita et exempla politica, lib. 1, cap. 4, pp. 44-45
Lipsius, Politica, lib. 2, cap. 11, p. 324 (ed. J. Waszink): 'Et cur dissimulem? Pestis Europae caninum hoc studium, quod haud temere quispiam [sc. Columella] concessum latrocinium dixit.' Since he had been trained as a lawyer himself, one might wonder if Lipsius, like other humanist authors, did not befoul his own nest in making legal studies the butt of his criticism.
On Lipsius's legal studies, see De Landtsheer J., Lieveling van de Latijnse taal. Justus Lipsius te Leiden herdacht bij zijn vierhonderste sterfdag (Leiden: 2006) 13-14.
See Brett A. S., "Scholastic Political Thought and the Modern Concept of the State", in Brett A. S.-Tully J.-Hamilton-Bleakley H. (eds.), Rethinking the Foundations of Modern Political Thought (Cambridge: 2006) 136 and 141.
Brett A. S., Liberty, Right and Nature: Individual Rights in Later Scholastic Thought, Ideas in Context 44 (Cambridge: 1997);
Maclean I., Interpretation and Meaning in the Renaissance. The Case of Law, Ideas in Context 21 (Cambridge: 1992).
For a more nuanced exposition, see Truman R. W., Spanish Treatises on Government, Society and Religion in the Time of Philip II. The 'de regimine principum' and Associated Traditions, Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 95 (Leiden-Boston-Köln: 1999) 253-360;
Höpfl H., Jesuit Political Thought. The Society of Jesus and the State c. 1540-1630, Ideas in Context 70 (Cambridge: 2004);
Braun H. E., Juan de Mariana and Early Modern Spanish Political Thought (Aldershot: 2007) respectively.
cf. De iustitia et iure, lib. 5, quaest. 3, art. 3, dub. 3 (ed. fac. V. D. Carro - M. Gonzalez Ordonez), vol. 3, p. 423.
Unfortunately, Whitman does not discuss 'Selbsthilfe' in matters pertaining to what would now be considered as 'private law' in his "Zum Thema der Selbsthilfe in der Rechtsgeschichte", in Fikentscher W., Begegnung und Konflikt: eine kulturanthropologische Bestandsaufnahme, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Neue folge 120 (München: 2001) 97-105.
Lessius L., De iustitia et iure (Antwerp, ex officina Plantiniana: 1626), lib. 2, cap. 1, dubit. 3, num. 13: 'Tota respublica se habet ad principem sicut particularis persona ad custodem, quem stipendio ad se tuendum et custodiendum conduxit; et ob hanc causam maxime procuratio boni communis pertinet ad illum architektonikoos.'
See Suárez F., De legibus ac Deo legislatore. Tractatus de legibus utriusque fori hominibus utilis, lib. 3, cap. 12, num. 2, in Suärez F., Opera Omnia, ed. C. Berton, tom. 5 (Paris, L. Vives: 1856) 215.
Cf. resp. C. 8, 38, 5;
Inst. 4, 6, 4;
Dig. 2, 14, 31;
the bona fides requirement for prescription to take effect was only developed in classical canon law. See X 2, 26, 5 (Alexander III) and Lib. 6, reg. iur. 2 (possessor malae fidei ullo tempore non praescribit).
See C. 1, 5, 22 (with a Medieval authenticum added by Frederik II);
C. 1, 7, 3, pr.;
X 5, 7, 13 (Innocentius III).
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 19, dubit. 5, num. 50-52.
Cf. Bireley R., The Counter-Reformation Prince. Anti-Machiavellianism or Catholic State-craft in Early modern Europe (London: 1990) 179.
See Leonardi Lessii (...) in D. Thomam de beatitudine, de actibus humanis, de incarnatione Verbi, de sacramentis et censuris praelectiones theologicae posthumae. Accesserunt eiusdem variorum casuum conscientiae resolutiones (Louvain: 1645), ed. I. Wijns, s.v. Haereticorum cum catholicis conversatici, cas. II, num. 4-10 and cas. III, num. 11-12 resp.
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 27, dubit. 4, num. 16: 'Iure enim naturae et gentium potest quis sibi ex qualibet re alterius satisfacere, quando aliter solutionem obtinere nequit.'
Prodi P., Eine Geschichte der Gerechtigkeit. Vom Recht Gottes zum modernen Rechtsstaat (München: 2003) 270.
Cf. Hor., Ep. 2, 1, 156.
Compare the concluding remarks of Paolo Prodi in Quaglioni D. - Todeschini G. - Varanini G. M. (eds.), Credito e usura fra teologia, diritto e amministrazione: linguaggi a confronto, sec. XII-XVI, Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome 346 (Rome: 2005) 294: 'Conflitti e collaborazioni tra i diversi fori caratterizzano quindi i secoli successivi nella tendenza della Chiesa a mantenere la sua giurisdizione sul contratto mediante la difesa della superiorità del giuramento (...) e sopratutto (...) riaffermando la superiorità del contratto, regolato dalle superiori norme elaborate dai moralisti e dai casisti, sulla legge statale.'
For an overview of the Europe-wide growing state-interventionism in the early modern period, see Stolleis M. - Härter K. - Schilling L. (eds.), Policey im Europa der Frühen Neuzeit, Ius Commune, Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Sonderhefte, Studien zur Europäischen Rechtsgeschichte 83 (Frankfurt am Main: 1996), including an excellent contribution by Van Peteghem P. on developments in the Low Countries: "Policeygesetzgebung in der Republik der Vereinigten Provinzen: Überblick über Lage und Entwicklung der Gesetzgebung im Ancien Regime" (457-488).
See Dig. 50, 17, 23 and its reception in the Medieval ius commune.
Thomas, Summa Theologiae, IIaIIae, quaest. 66, art. S, ad 3.
See C. ?, S (Ne quis in sua causa iudicet vel sibi ius dicat).
Cf. Cajetanus T. de Vio, Commentaria in IIamIIae (q. 57-122) Divi Thomae, in Thomae Aquinatis opera omnia cum commentariis Thomae de Vio Caietani (ed. Leonina, Rome: 1897), tom. 9, p. 91: 'An scilicet impotens recuperare rem suam aut aliquid sibi debitum, via iuris, accipiendo illam sine scandalo, peccet coram Deo.'
Cajetanus, Commentaria, p. 91: 'Nec in his casibus accipiens proprie dicit sibi ipsi ius, sed potius exequitur ius suum: cum non auctoritate aliqua utatur, sed sola occulta acceptione.'
Cf. Soto, De iustitia et iure, lib. 5, quaest. 3, art. 3, dub. 3, vol. 3, p. 420
See Valentia G., Commentaria theologica in Secundum Secundae D. Thomae (Ingolstedt, apud Adam Sartorium: 1603), tom. 3, disp. 5, quaest. 10, punct. 5, litt. c-d, p. 1313.
Molina L., De iustitia et iure (Venice, apud Seffas: 1611), tom. 3, part. 2, disp. 690, num. 1, p. 652.
Molina L., De iustitia et iure (Conchae, ex officina M. Serrano de Vargas: 1597), tom. 2, disp. 560, num. 10, p. 2010.
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 27, dubit. 4, num. 16, p. 350;
and Mazzolini S. da Prierio, Summa Sylvestrina quae Summa Summarum nuncupatur (Lyon, sumptibus Petri Landry: 1593), part. 1, v. compensatio, num. 3, p. 149.
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 12, dubit. 10, num. 56-57, p. 144.
Molina, De iustitia et iure, tom. 3, part. 2, disp. 690, num. 1-2, p. 652.
Molina, De iustitia et iure, tom. 3, disp. 691, num. 1, pp. 654-655.
Dig. 43, 33, 1, 1: 'Melior est conditio possidentis' and Lib. 6, reg. iur. 65: 'In pari delicto vel causa potior est conditio possidentis.'
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 12, dub. 10, num. 58, p. 144.
Perez A., De iustitia et iure et de poenitentia opus posthumum (Rome, ex typographia Varesii: 1668), tract. 2, disp. 2, cap. 4, p. 174.
Cf. Schüssler R., "Moral Self-Ownership and Ius Possessionis in Late Scholastics", in Mäkinen V.-Korkman P. (eds.), Transformations in Medieval and Early Modern Rights Discourse, The New Synthese Historical Library. Texts and Studies in the History of Philosophy 59 (Dordrecht: 2006) 154-155.
C. 4, 24, 9
and Dig. 50, 17, 23.
Molina, De iustitia et iure, tom. 3, part. 2, disp. 691, num. 3, p. 657.
Molina, De iustitia et iure, tom. 3, part. 2, disp. 691, num. 1, pp. 655-656
Molina, De iustitia et iure, tom. 3, part. 2, disp. 691, num. 2, p. 656.
Cf. Höpfl, Jesuit Political Thought 96-97.
Azpilcueta M. (Dr. Navarrus), Enchiridion sive manuale confessariorum et poenitentium (Paris, apud viduam Guilielmi de la Nouë: 1602), cap. 17, num. 116, p. 449.
Lessius, De iustitia et iure, lib. 2, cap. 12, dub. 10, num. 62, p. 144-145.
Denzinger H. - Schönmetzer A., Enchiridion symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de rebus fidei et morum (Freiburg im Breisgau et al.: 196332) 453, num. 2048
Alexandri VII propositiones doctrinae moralis laxioris 1-28 damnatae in Decretis S. Officii 24. Sept. 1665, prop. 28: 'Populus non peccat, etiamsi absque ulla causa non recipiat legem a principe promulgatum.'
Denzinger-Schönmetzer, Enchiridion 462, num. 2137: Innocentii XI propositiones lxv damnatae in Decretis S. Officii 2. Mart. 1679, prop. 37: 'Famuli et famulae domesticae possunt occulte heris suis surripere ad compensandum operam suam, quam maiorem iudicant salario, quod recipiunt.' In a footnote to num. 2137
the editors ascribe this proposition to Leonardus Lessius, De iustitia et iure 2, 12, 10.
See Thisius L. I., Theses theologicae quibus exhibentur quaedam observationes circa aliquot propositiones de furto, compensatione occulta, et restitutione inter Ixv a Innocentio XI condemnatas [praeses: Gummarus Huygens Lyranus; defensio in collegio Adriani VI die 7 decembris 1684] (Louvain, Typis Guilielmi Stryckwant: 1684).
Thisius L. I., Theses theologicae, concl. 2, par. 2, [s.p.]: 'existimo inquam quod illi nollent se subjicere tribunali cui veluti judices in propria causa adversus se sederent famuli et ancillae, conductores rerum suarum aut quicumque alii secum contrahentes.'
