ABSTRACT
"Liberalism," like "conservatism" and "socialism," is too local, contingent and shifting a term to deserve a place in a general theory of society, politics, government and law. In "regal" forms of government, says Aquinas, the rulers have plenary authority, while in "political," their authority is "limited in accordance with certain laws of the polity." Deeper and more demanding than any constitutional or other legal limits on governments are the moral principles and norms, which natural law theory considers to be principles and norms of reason, and which are limits, side-constraints, recognized in the conscientious deliberations of every decent person. The government of political communities is rationally limited, not only by constitutional law and by the moral norms, which limit every decent person's deliberation and choice, but also by the inherent limits of its general justifying aim, purpose or rationale.
