ABSTRACT
Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) was concerned with systematising knowledge, on the basis of Catholic doctrine, so that the cosmos might be understood as a vast unit in which everything had a place and a meaning. Within this system of knowledge, God’s plans for mankind occupied a special place, and the law was to be comprehended as a part of those plans. Aquinas propounded a theory of law based on his conception of ‘reason’; this resulted in a fourfold division of law in which so called ‘natural law’ is of much significance. The answer given below is based on the following skeleton plan:
Introduction – background of Aquinas – influence of Aristotelian thought – fourfold division of law – problem of morality – violation of the natural law and its consequences – conclusion, stressing the work of Aquinas as a synthesiser of philosophy and religious thought in his interpretation of law.
