Thomas Aquinas — "The proper act of justice is to render to each one what is his own."
The proper act of justice is to render to each one what is his own.
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More from Thomas Aquinas
"The primary cause of sin is the will."
"Slavery is a consequence of sin, and thus it is just."
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"A slave is an instrument of his master, and is his property."
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Justice means giving people exactly what they are owed — no more, no less. It's not charity or generosity, but a binding obligation: recognizing what rightfully belongs to each person and ensuring they receive it. This covers property, rights, dignity, and fair treatment. Every person is owed something by virtue of who they are, what they've done, or what society has promised them.
Relevance to Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas, a Dominican friar, built his Summa Theologica around systematic ethics and natural law. He drew directly from Aristotle's concept of justice as suum cuique — giving each his due — and baptized it into Christian theology. As a jurist-theologian, he believed justice wasn't human invention but embedded in God's rational order. This definition anchors his entire framework of law, morality, and social obligation.
The era
Medieval Europe was structured around feudalism, where rights and property were defined by one's place in the social hierarchy. Disputes over what lords, serfs, clergy, and kings were owed were constant and often violent. Roman law was being rediscovered and absorbed into Church governance. Aquinas's definition gave a rational, theological foundation for resolving these tensions and grounding legal systems in natural law rather than raw power.
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