As pauperism and begging dramatically increased throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, poverty began to be treated as the object of governmental regulation rather than of individual benevolence. The new approach – which has been viewed as the early glimmering of the modern welfare state – aroused much controversy. This book presents translations of Domingo de Soto’s intervention in the controversy (In Causa Pauperum Deliberatio), as well as of his treatments of poverty and property in his magisterial De Iustitia et Iure and elsewhere. Accompanying the translations is an extensive introductory essay that analyses the juridical significance of Soto’s reflections on rights, poverty, and property. Among other matters, the introductory essay elucidates Soto’s notion of the right to beg, as well as the different ways to conceptualize the relationship between extreme necessity and private property. Throughout, Soto’s views are presented in the light of other scholastic thinkers from whom he drew, or with whom he disagreed, or who explicated his ideas. The essay also notes connections to the thought of the great Dutch jurist of the next century, Hugo Grotius.Legal theorist and classicist Ernest Weinrib brings together the disciplines to illuminate Soto’s role in the intellectual history of poverty and of its relation to private property.
Ernest Weinrib is a university professor emeritus at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto where he taught courses on law and classics for more than five decades.
Domingo de Soto on Poverty and PropertyI The Crisis of Pauperism: Tavera’s LawII The Precept of AlmsgivingIII Roads and HospitalityIV IusV Subjective RightsVI The Right to BegVII Lucrum CessansVIII Common Possession and Private PropertyIX Extreme NecessityX RestitutionXI Conclusion Translated TextsDeliberation in the Matter of the Poor (1545) (the Proposed Regulation of Beggars)Chapter II: Containing the NarrationChapter III: On VagabondsChapter IV: On Foreign BeggarsChapter V: Response to ObjectionsChapter VI: On Pilgrims to SantiagoChapter VII: On the End Applicable to the Arrangements about the PoorChapter VIII: On the Obligation to Give Alms Incumbent upon ChristiansChapter IX: On Examining the Poverty of BeggarsChapter X: On Examining the Life of the PoorChapter XI: On the Reason for Permitting Solicitation from Door to DoorChapter XII: In Which the Reasons and Causes for Prohibiting the Poor from Begging Are Examined Commentary on Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 32 (1539–1540) (the Precept of Almsgiving)De Dominio 1–8 (1535) (Ownership and Use)De Dominio 19–23 (1535) (the Origin of Private Property)De Iustitia et Iure, IV, q. 1, a. 1 (1553) (Private Property and Right)De Iustitia et Iure, IV, q. 3, a. 1 (1553) (the Origin of Private Property)De Iustitia et Iure, V, q. 3, a. 4 (1553) (Stealing out of Necessity)De Iustitia et Iure, IV, q. 7, a. 1 (1553) (Restitution of What Was Taken)Note on the Texts TranslatedBibliographyIndex