Understanding
the True Value of
Law
Objectives
What is Law?
Law and Personal Freedom
Law and our Nation’s
Freedom
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What is a Just Law?
• It protects and promotes the true freedom of a community and its individual members.
• “an ordinance of reason promulgated by competent authority for the sake of the
common good” (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Characteristics of a “Just Law”
An “Ordinance of Reason”
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The law against driving under the influence of alcohol is based
on a concrete findings that alcohol consumption can lead to poor
judgment and loss of muscle control and coordination.
“Properly Promulgated”
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When a school or any organization enacts a new
set of policies, its leaders should immediately
communicate the new rules to all concerned.
“Decreed by competent authority”
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Based on the principle of separation of Church and
State, church leaders cannot make laws for the
country nor can government leaders enact Church laws.
Ought to be “for the sake of the Common Good”
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Ought to be “for the sake of the Common Good”
oIt is important to distinguish the “morality of an act from its
legality”
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Some individuals argue that abortion and divorce are perfectly
moral because these acts are considered legal in other states.
o“not everything permitted by the law is considered morally good”
• An act is considered “legal” if it does not contradict any state law, while an
act is considered “morally good” if its nature, intention, and circumstances
are all positively good for the person as a person-in-community (CFC 804)
Different Laws, Different Goals
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The “set of rights and obligations” that arise from our basic
dignity as persons and which we can discern by using our intellect
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By using our reason, we can discover rights,
obligations, principles, and values that are
“universally true for all persons” regardless of race,
religion, or culture that have remained unchanging
throughout the centuries.
Natural law is “grounded on these universal and
timeless moral values” and is the foundation of the
other kinds of laws
Some of its universally accepted and fundamental principles
can be expressed in the following statements:
What you do not wish others to do to you, do not do to them. (Golden Rule)
Parental duties and duties corresponding to our state of life must be fulfilled.
Lawful authority, including parents, must be obeyed.
Maintain your health and well-being.
Live in harmony with others.
Leave to everyone and give to everyone what is his or hers.
Contracts must be honored (Peschke, 1994)
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God provided men and women with the grace to discern His
will and thereby formulate laws and codes according to His
plan.
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The first event foreshadows the second,
while the second event fulfills the first.
• As members of Christ’s Body, the Church, we have the duty to understand
and follow the teachings of the Church
• we are summoned to listen to the Church’s moral guidance and rich
teachings for these bring us the Christian view of what is good and
reasonable.
You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation
and rest from servile labor.
You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
You shall receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist at least during
the Easter season.
You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established
by the church.
You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
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• For our country, the most important civil law is the Philippine Constitution.
This document expresses in clear terms the freedoms and obligations of
both the state and its people.
• Article II, Section 12 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
• According to this section, the State has the obligation to
uphold the dignity of the Filipino family, as well as protect both
the life of the mother and the life of the child in her womb
from the moment of conception
Why do we need to
inform/educate ourselves of our
communities rules/regulations?
Performance Task
•Law Photo Essay
• In groups of five or six, take photographs or download
examples of each different types of Laws we had
discussed.
• Gather these pictures in an album or electronic/digital
Scrapbook
• Write short descriptions of the laws they illustrate, and
• Reflections on how these laws uphold our true freedom
