on the subjects; in other words, that it should be a will to bind the subjects; for without such a will, [the act] cannot be binding upon them. And this will to bind suffices, in so far as willing is concerned.
The truth of the first assertion is evident, because the obligation is a moral effect, and voluntary on the part of the prince; also, because the acts of agents do not transcend their own intentions; and furthermore because, in accordance with the same reasoning, there can be no vow without the will to bind oneself; wherein [a vow] is like a law, a fact which we have mentioned in another work (Vol. II, De Religione, Treatise VI, bk. 1, chap. ii).8 The second assertion is also clearly true, since we assume that there exists in the lawmaker, the power to bind; and therefore, if he furthermore possesses the will to bind, nothing else can be required, in so far as relates to the will. It may be objected that the will to command is necessary, and that this will suffices even in the absence of the will to bind. I reply that these are not two separate forms of willing, but one and the same form described in different terms, a point which I shall explain below.
9. The will in question may be described in yet another way, as being the will to bring about a given action because that action is necessary to
[print edition page 61]
the preservation of equity or the mean in a particular matter of virtue. For the will of a superior has this moral efficacy, namely, that it can lay a binding obligation upon his subjects, and make that a requisite matter for virtue, which was not in itself essential; as, for example, when it makes fasting on a certain day necessary for the mean of temperance. For though this fast is not always necessary to the observance of the law, nevertheless, when it shall be necessary, [the imposition of such a restriction] does not exceed the power of the lawmaker.
This, then, is the correct explanation of the object with which the efficacious will of the legislator is concerned. For, even though that object may be moral rather than physical, the efficacious will may be exercised with respect to it; and not only the human will, but also the divine, as I have elsewhere expressly said9 and as I shall later repeat in the treatise on grace.10
In this connexion, indeed, there was a special difficulty in regard to the natural law; but this point will be treated to better advantage in the following Book.
10. The act of the intellect which some persons call intimation is not a requisite for the making of law. The sole remaining question is whether or not, subsequently to the acts of the intellect and of the will already mentioned, some other act on the part of the legislator himself is a requisite for the making of law. For many persons believe that an additional act of the intellect is indeed necessary, one to which they give the name of intimation, explanation or notification of the will of the superior with respect to the inferior; because this act, such persons say, involves the real essence of command and may be expressed in the phrase, ‘Do this’, so that, as I shall point out below, they find the real essence of law in the said act. The basis of their opinion, moreover, is their belief that in every moral operation the act in question is necessary, after the election [by the will] in respect to execution. Aristotle, too, touched upon this view, in declaring (Ethics, Bk. VI [, chap. v]) that to command was the most perfect act of prudence. St. Thomas did likewise (I.–II, qu. 17, art. 1) when he taught that the act of commanding is an act of the intellect.
[print edition page 62]
11. I hold, indeed, speaking generally of command over the personal acts and powers of the person himself who exercises the command, that there is no necessity for an act of the intellect directed immediately toward the executory power, subsequently to the choice, or act of willing, by which one definitely and effectively wills to perform some external act, with all the special accompanying conditions required for action in view of the circumstances and the executive power. I go further, and hold that such an act [of the intellect] is not even possible. For the executory power is not aware of the force of the command; and solely the placing of the object before the will, not the application of the power to the act, pertains to the intellect. To the will pertains the subsequent application of the other powers in actual use. This is the more common opinion, one which I derive from St. Thomas (I.–II, qu. 17) and from the authors to whom I shall refer in the following Chapter. I have touched upon the same matter more frequently, and at sufficient length, elsewhere (Tract. De Praedestinatione, Bk. I, chaps. xvi and xvii and De Religione, Tr. IV, bk. 1, chap. i and Tr. VI, bk. 1, chap. xii).11
12. This doctrine having been laid down with respect to each person’s command over himself, it is still needful to state that, with respect to the command of one person over another, the only necessary requisite, following the act of will on the part of the lawmaker which I have explained above,12 is that the lawmaker should manifest, indicate or intimate this decree and judgment of his, to the subjects to whom the law itself relates. For this is essential, since if he did not do so, the will of the prince could not be binding upon his subject, inasmuch as it would not be made known to that subject, a point which we shall discuss more fully when we treat of promulgation.13 It is clear, moreover, that this [act on the part of the lawgiver] suffices, since the will of the prince is of itself efficacious. For that will is derived from a sufficient authority and is, so we assume, accompanied by an absolute and binding decree; consequently, if the said will is adequately revealed to the subject, it effects that which is willed;
[print edition page 63]
hence, it establishes an obligation; the law is accordingly consummated; and therefore, nothing further is necessary. This argument will stand out more clearly in the light of the statements to be made in the following Chapter.
13. It is clear, however, that such instruction as to [the lawgiver’s] intention14 consists of some utterance, the term ‘utterance’ being understood to include any indication or manifestation whatsoever, given to another person, of an internal act. That utterance, indeed, properly considered with special reference to its relation to a creature, is effected by means of an act which passes on and is finally received in some way into the person to whom the utterance is addressed; a fact which is manifestly true in the case of human interrelations, and which I believe to be true, among the angels, also, in a sense appropriate to them. For if the one who speaks, causes no impression on the one to whom he speaks, the former will not be making his thought manifest to the latter.
Moreover, the same is true with respect to God in relation to His creatures. For God gave no intimation to Adam of His will concerning abstention from eating of the tree of life, save through some revelation made to Adam himself; and if God makes manifest in the Word, to one of the blessed, that which He wishes to be done, the very vision of the Word in the blessed has the force of an utterance and intimation from God, concerning the precept in question.
The utterance directed by the creature to God, however, involves another principle, of which I have spoken elsewhere ([De Religione, ubi] de Oratione, loc. cit.),15 but which is not pertinent here, since the creature cannot give commands to God.
14. In addition to the acts enumerated, an act of the intellect for communicating with the subject is required. Thus, from the foregoing, I conclude that, subsequently to the above-mentioned16 act of the will, there is required of the lawmaker only an act of the intellect which will be needed in order to communicate a given matter or decree to the subject.
[print edition page 64]
And, in consequence, there may be a necessity for a new act of the will to produce some sign which will make manifest the previous act of the will. Just as we are required to have an understanding of the words which we are about to utter, and a will to move our tongues, so also in due proportion it is required that the prince shall conceive, through his intellect, a way to effect an intimation of the law, and that he shall, through his will, choose to execute this intimation. The foregoing statement may in due proportion be applied with respect to God; for it is thus that He executes this intimation, even as He executes His other effects.
Finally,
