-
Chapter VII
- Liberty Fund
- Chapter
- Additional Information
101 u c h a p t e r v i i u Concerning the Subject-Matter of War for What Cause and in What Circumstances Is War Justly Waged? Question VI Article I. What constitutes just subject-matter of war, in a causal sense, for voluntary efficient agents? Article II. What constitutes just subject-matter of war, from the standpoint of attendant circumstances, for voluntary efficient agents? Article III. What constitutes just subject-matter of war, in a causal sense, for subjects? Article IV. What constitutes just subject-matter of war, from the standpoint of attendant circumstances, for subjects? [29′] Corollary to Question VI. Can there be a war that is just for both parties? Article I. With respect to voluntary agents? Article II. With respect to subjects? Let us consider next the following question: For what cause, and against whom, are wars waged? And let us devote the first part of our inquiry to what is properly termed the “cause of war,” although Aristotlea refers a. Politics, I. vi [I. ii. 18]. 102 chapter vii to the same concept as the “origin of war” and others, more specifically, as its prófasic [pretext or occasion].a In view of the fact, then, that a just war consists in the execution of a right,b the matter regarding which a just war is wagedmustof necessity be a right.c In this connexion, however, it should be noted that, although two types of belligerents have been mentioned above—the one type, voluntary , and the other (to which we applied the term “subjects”), instrumental , so to speak—the concept of “right” is not to be interpreted in the same way for the two cases. For subjects as such enjoy a right not absolutely, but in a relative sense, as the Scholastics have maintained. Indeed, in the strict sense of the term, a right pertains only to those who act voluntarily.d Furthermore, in order that a right may exist, it is necessary for volition to spring from an intellectual act of understanding, and that understanding must in turn be derived from truth itself. For the ancients were not unjustified in defining law as “right reason.”Those persons, moreover, who give the command for war, are properly admonished not to employ this last weapon of necessity unless such a course of action is based upon just cause.e Cicerof has said: “Those wars are unjust which have been undertaken without cause.” Now, every right that we possess may be referred to one of four laws: the First, the Second, the Fifth, and the Sixth. For the Third and Fourth Laws, when interpreted from the standpoint of personal welfare, differ not at all from the First and Second, save only in the fact that the terms are reversed; while the Seventh, and all of the laws following thereafter, may be traced back to the Sixth (with the support, that is to say, of the Third Rule). Therefore, every [just] war must have its origin in one of four causes. The first of these is self-defence, which is based upon the First Law. a. Polybius, Histories, III [vi]. b. Chap. ii, at end, supra, p. 50. c. Beginning of Chap. vi, supra, pp. 92–94. d. Arist., Nic. Ethics, V. x [V. viii. 1]; Institutes, I. i, at beginning. e. Panormitanus, On Decretals, II. xxiv. 29, n. 12; Vict., De Jure Belli, 21. f. The Republic, III [xxiii. 35]. Also in Isidore [Etymologies, XVIII. i. 2–3]. [44.202.183.118] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 17:36 GMT) the subject-matter of war 103 For, as Ciceroa observes, “. . . the act [of homicide] is not only just but even necessary, when it represents the repulsion of violence by means of violence.” Many statements to the same effect are to be found in the works of various authors. A second cause is defence of one’s property, based upon the Second Law,b which makes it permissible not only to offer resistance but also to dispossess others. Moreover, the term “property” is to be understoodnot exclusively in a material sense, but as referring to every right, including that right to a good name which is justly the possession of virtuous persons and of which they ought by no means to be deprived. A third cause—one that a great many authorities neglect to mention —turns upon debts arising from a contract or from some similar source. To be sure, I presume that this third...