Natural Law Change by Addition, Original Sin and <i>Ius Gentium:</i> Toward a New Interpretation of Thomas Aquinas's Theory of Property (Part I)

This article, divided into two parts, aims to delve deep into Thomas Aquinas's theory of property. As a starting point, it presents a problem for which there is no satisfactory solution in Thomistic scholarship: Aquinas considers both the community of goods and private property as natural rights. How can two antagonistic regimes of property coexist harmoniously within the same moral, legal, and even theological system? I intend to demonstrate that the common solution proposed by many scholars—claiming that the institution of private property is permitted by human positive law, despite the community of goods being a natural right—is incomplete. Aquinas addresses this issue by harmonizing the doctrines of the Church Fathers and Aristotle, which ultimately enabled the reception of the institution of private property within Christian social thought. Four hypotheses regarding the framework of the institution of private property within Thomas Aquinas's theory of natural law will be investigated: whether it is a natural human inclination; whether it is merely a conventional right; whether it belongs to the ius gentium ; and whether it is an addition to the natural law made by the advent of human reason after original sin.