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Ethics vs. Law: St. Paul, the Fathers of the Church and the “Cheerful Giver” in Roman Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2017
Extract
The present study deals with a segment from the history of the eternal problem, Ethics and Law, and their interrelation. It investigates the origin and evolution of a moral idea—the meaning of goodwill in action, and especially in giving. Some of the greatest and most noble minds of all times have cooperated in this evolution—Aristotle, St. Paul, and St. John Chrysostom. Emperor Justinian undertook later the attempt to anchor this moral claim in law. The attempt failed. The failure unveils the border line between ethics and law.
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References
1 Paul's two Epistles to the Corinthians fall about 54–57 A.D. The Second Epistle was composed about 57. Sickenberger, J., Die beiden Briefe des hl. Paulus an die Korinther (3rd ed., Bonn, 1923), p. 77.Google Scholar
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154 Cf., recently, Flade, Gottfried, Vom Einfluss des Christentums auf die Germanen (Forschungen zur Kirchen- und Geistesgeschichte, ed. Seeberg, , Holtzmann, , and Weber, , vol. X, Stuttgart, 1936) and the review by Wohlhaupter, E., Ztschr. der. Sav. Stift. Kan. Abt., XXVI (1937), 524.Google Scholar
155 Cf. Wittmann, Michael, Die Ethik des Heiligen Thomas (1933), p. 356 ff.; Schilling (note 139, supra), p. 5 ff. Compare also Mausbach, J., “Ethik und Recht”, Archiv für Rechts-und Wirtschaftsphilosophie, XVI (1922-23), 76 ff.; Wittmann, Michael, Ethik (1923) p. 64; Tillmann, Fritz, Die katholische Sittenlehre; die Idee der Nachfolge Christi (1934), p. 149 ff.Google Scholar
156 Cf. Pringsheim, , p. 287. —More recently Bussi, Emilio, “La donazione nel suo svolgimento storico”, in Cristianesimo e Diritto Romano (Pubblicazioni della Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, XLIII, Milano, 1935) p. 224 ff., blended again both types of will, the animus donandi and the concept of liberalitas. He regards both as the result of the same Christian ideas. For criticisms of Bussi, see: Steinwenter, A., Zeitschr. der. Sav. Stift. Rom. Abt. LVI (1936), 382.—See also Siber, H., Römisches Recht, II (1928), 65, note 8: “Liberalitas … ist ein unklares interpoliertes Erfordernis”.Google Scholar
157 Some authors have doubted that Roman law requires an acceptance by the donee (animus recipiendi). Cf. Perozzi, , Institutioni di diritto romano (2nd ed., Rome, 1928), II, 722. This is, however, immaterial for our present purposes, for we are concerned with the will of the donor (animus donandi) alone.Google Scholar
158 Rabel, E., “Negotium alienum und animus”, Studi Bonfante (Milano, 1930), IV, 292 ff.Google Scholar
159 Cf. Paulus, , Dig. 32, 25, 1: Cumin verbis nulla ambiguitas est, non debet admitti voluntatis quaestio. Google Scholar
160 Pringsheim, , op. cit. p. 273 ff. and Law Quarterly Review , XLIX (1933), 43 ff. Levy, E., Der Hergang der römischen Ehescheidung (1925), 96 ff.; Rabel, , p. 292 ff.; Jörs-Kunkel, , Römisches Recht (2nd ed., 1935) pp. 83, 246. For a somewhat different opinion see Riccobono, S., recently again in “Origine e sviluppo del domma della volontà nel diritto”, Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Diritto Romano I, Roma, (Pavia, 1934), 179 ff., 189 ff.Google Scholar
161 Cf. sect. X supra. Google Scholar
162 It would be interesting to follow the later history of causa liberalitatis in medieval and modern law of donations. The strange career of the “cheerful giver” during the centuries following Justinian could well be called the “ghost story” of this concept, to use a term coined by Vinogradoff, Paul Sir ( Roman Law in Medieval Europe , 2nd ed., Oxford, 1929, p. 13) with reference to the survival of Roman Law in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. On the “cheerful giver” in medieval law—especially in the Spanish code, Las Siete Partidas (1265 A.D.) of King Alfonso the Wise—and in modern legislation and jurisprudence, the writer is preparing a separate study.Google Scholar
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