Dist. 32, Art. 2, Q. 2
Book IV: On the Sacraments · Distinction 32
Quaestio II. Utrum quis teneatur reddere debitum, si alter fiat fornicarius.
Secundo quaeritur, utrum teneatur debitum reddere fornicanti. Et quod sic, videtur:
1. Quia, si uterque fornicetur, alter alteri tenetur9: ergo si maius malum non solvit mutuam tentionem, ergo nec quando tantum alter fornicatur.
2. Item, vir semper tenetur servare fidem uxori, etiam fornicanti, quia non licet viro fornicari, esto quod uxor fornicetur; sed servare fidem est debitum reddere: ergo etc.
3. Item, non fornicans potest petere, ergo fornicans tenetur reddere: ergo habet ius petendi; sed vinculum coniugale est mutuum: ergo uterque habet ius petendi10: ergo si fornicans habet ius petendi, iustum est, quod alter reddat: ergo tenetur reddere.
Contra: 1. Potest dimittere uxorem causa fornicationis11: ergo non tenetur debitum solvere.
2. Item, si mulier procuraret aborsum, vir non deberet nec teneretur ei debitum reddere, quia agit contra bonum prolis; sed fornicans agit contra bonum fidei: ergo non tenetur.
3. Item, coniuges ad paria iudicantur quanp. 735tum ad torum1: ergo quod non facit unus alteri, vel non vult facere, nec potest petere; sed si mulier fidem non servat: ergo nec potest cogere virum, ut fidem servet, ergo nec ut debitum solvat.
Conclusio
Coniux innocens non tenetur fornicanti reddere debitum, nisi postquam ipse hoc petivit.
Respondeo: Dicendum, quod si alter fornicatur, et hoc potest alter scire per signa probabilia et per coniecturas apertas; nec tenetur solvere nec ab Ecclesia est cogendus, si potest illud probare; si tamen ipse, vel ipsa non sit eiusdem criminis, quia, si sunt in eodem crimine, non potest alter alteri obiicere quod habet in se. Si tamen innocens2 petat debitum, privat se libertate et ex hoc obligat se ad reddendum, quia, dum vult sibi debitum reddi a fornicante, et ipse se eidem obligat. — Concedendae igitur sunt rationes, quod non tenetur.
Ad 1. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod tenentur3 ambo, si ambo peccent; dicendum, quod verum est. Ratio huius est, quia neuter est tunc super alterum; si tantum alter facit contra bonum matrimonii, alter, id est ille qui facit, meretur puniri, et alter meretur habere libertatem. Nunc autem neuter est liber, quia uterque peccat; et ideo non est simile: quia quod non tenetur reddere, hoc non tantum erat poena peccantis, sed etiam libertas non peccantis.
Ad 2. Ad illud quod obiicitur, quod tenetur servare fidem; dicendum, quod fides attenditur quantum ad duo: primo, ut non cognoscat aliam, secundo, ut cognoscat suam. Quod non cognoscat aliam, hoc debet esse tanquam naturale4 matrimonio; unde talis fides nunquam potest solvi, matrimonio durante. Si autem haec non durat, cum alia super hanc fundetur, non tenetur servare hanc, cui prima non servatur, nec ius habet petendi qui prius infringit.
Ad 3. Ad aliud patet responsio: quia non fornicans habet ius petendi, quia nihil contra fidem5 fecit, sed alius fecit contra; et ideo in hoc factus est inferior et minus ius habet quam alter6.
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Question II. Whether one is bound to render the debt if the other becomes a fornicator.
Secondly it is asked, whether one is bound to render the debt to a fornicator. And that one is, it seems:
1. Because, if both fornicate, the one is bound to the other9: therefore, if the greater evil does not dissolve the mutual claim, then neither [does it] when only one fornicates.
2. Likewise, the husband is always bound to keep faith with his wife, even with one who fornicates, because it is not lawful for the husband to fornicate, granted that the wife fornicates; but to keep faith is to render the debt: therefore etc.
3. Likewise, the one who does not fornicate can demand, therefore the one who fornicates is bound to render: therefore he has the right of demanding; but the conjugal bond is mutual: therefore each has the right of demanding10: therefore, if the fornicator has the right of demanding, it is just that the other render: therefore he is bound to render.
On the contrary: 1. He can dismiss the wife on account of fornication11: therefore he is not bound to pay the debt.
2. Likewise, if a woman were to procure an abortion, the husband would neither owe nor be bound to render her the debt, because she acts against the good of offspring; but the fornicator acts against the good of fidelity: therefore he is not bound.
3. Likewise, spouses are judged as equals as regardsp. 735 the marriage-bed1: therefore what one does not do for the other, or does not wish to do, neither can he demand; but if the woman does not keep faith: therefore neither can she compel the husband to keep faith, therefore neither to pay the debt.
Conclusion
The innocent spouse is not bound to render the debt to a fornicator, except after he himself has demanded it.
I respond: It must be said that if the one fornicates, and the other can know this through probable signs and through open conjectures; he is neither bound to pay nor to be compelled by the Church, if he can prove it; provided, however, that he himself, or she herself, is not guilty of the same crime, because, if they are in the same crime, the one cannot object against the other what he has in himself. If, however, the innocent one2 demands the debt, he deprives himself of his liberty and by this binds himself to rendering, because, while he wishes the debt to be rendered to himself by the fornicator, he too binds himself to the same. — Therefore the reasons are to be conceded, that he is not bound.
To 1. To that which is objected, that both are bound3 if both sin; it must be said that it is true. The reason for this is that neither is then above the other; if only one acts against the good of marriage, the other, that is, the one who acts, deserves to be punished, and the other deserves to have liberty. But now neither is free, because each sins; and therefore it is not similar: because that one is not bound to render was not only the penalty of the sinner, but also the liberty of the non-sinner.
To 2. To that which is objected, that he is bound to keep faith; it must be said that faith is regarded as to two things: first, that he not know another woman, secondly, that he know his own. That he not know another, this ought to be as it were natural4 to marriage; whence such faith can never be dissolved, while the marriage lasts. But if this does not last, since another is founded upon it, he is not bound to keep this faith, to whom the first is not kept, nor does he have the right of demanding who first breaks it.
To 3. To the other the response is clear: because the one who does not fornicate has the right of demanding, since he has done nothing against fidelity5, but the other has acted against it; and therefore in this he has become inferior and has less right than the other6.
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- 9Vide C. Nihil iniquius (1.), C. 32. q. 6.See the canon Nihil iniquius (1), C. 32, q. 6.
- 10Plures codd. et ed. I omittunt ergo uterque habet ius petendi.Several codices and ed. I omit ergo uterque habet ius petendi (therefore each has the right of demanding).
- 11Cfr. Matth. 19, 9. — Ante Potest cod. bb supplet vir.Cf. Matthew 19:9. — Before Potest codex bb supplies vir (the husband).
- 1Cfr. hic lit. Magistri, c. I.Cf. here the text of the Master [Peter Lombard], c. 1.
- 2Cod. Z non fornicans, alii codd. et ed. I omittunt innocens. Mox post reddendum codd. R S bb supplent debitum. In fine corp. post rationes cod. O addit ostendentes, Vat. legit: probantes, quod reddere debitum fornicanti non tenetur.Codex Z reads non fornicans; other codices and ed. I omit innocens. Soon after reddendum codices R S bb supply debitum. At the end of the body, after rationes, codex O adds ostendentes; the Vatican edition reads: probantes, quod reddere debitum fornicanti non tenetur (proving that one is not bound to render the debt to a fornicator).
- 3Plurimi codd. perperam non tenentur.Very many codices wrongly read non tenentur (they are not bound).
- 4Cod. Y essentiale. Inferius post cum alia Vat. addit conditio; sed supplendum fides etiam post haec.Codex Y reads essentiale (essential). Below, after cum alia, the Vatican edition adds conditio; but fides is to be supplied also after haec.
- 5Codd. P Q bonum fidei.Codices P Q read bonum fidei (the good of fidelity).
- 6Vide scholion ad I. praecedentis articuli quaest.See the scholion to question I of the preceding article. ---