| Buying
& Selling Justly |
"Make
yourself a seller when you are buying, and a buyer when you are
selling, and then you will sell and buy justly." (St. Francis
de Sales, Doctor of the Church)
"[Let]
no man overreach nor circumvent his brother in business" (St.
Paul, 1 Thes. 4: 6)
"Christian
minds should not think that gainful commerce can flourish by
usuries or other similar injustices. On the contrary We learn from
divine Revelation that justice raises up nations; sin, however,
makes nations miserable." (Pope Benedict XIV, "Vix
Pervenit", 1745)
"It
is written (Matthew 7:12): 'All things...whatsoever you would that
men should do to you, do you also to them.' But no man wishes to
buy a thing for more than its worth. Therefore no man should sell
a thing to another man for more than its worth." (St. Thomas
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the
history of the Church")
"As
[St.] Augustine says 'this jester, either by looking into himself or by
his experience of others, thought that all men are inclined to
wish to buy for a song and sell at a premium. But since in reality
this is wicked, it is in every man's power to acquire that justice
whereby he may resist and overcome this inclination.' And then he
gives the example of a man who gave the just price for a book to a
man who through ignorance asked a low price for it. Hence it is
evident that this common desire is not from nature but from vice,
wherefore it is common to many who walk along the broad road of
sin." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Judgment
cannot be pronounced save on what is manifest: for 'a man judges
of what he knows' (Ethica Nicomachea i,3). Hence if the defects of
the goods offered for sale be hidden, judgment of them is not
sufficiently left with the buyer unless such defects be made known
to him. The case would be different if the defects were
manifest." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"The
measures of salable commodities must needs be different in
different places, on account of the difference of supply: because
where there is greater abundance, the measures are wont to be
larger. However in each place those who govern the state must
determine the just measures of things salable, with due
consideration for the conditions of place and time. Hence it is
not lawful to disregard such measures as are established by public
authority or custom." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"There
is no need to publish beforehand by the public crier the defects
of the goods one is offering for sale, because if he were to begin
by announcing its defects, the bidders would be frightened to buy,
through ignorance of other qualities that might render the thing
good and serviceable. Such defect ought to be stated to each
individual that offers to buy: and then he will be able to compare
the various points one with the other, the good with the bad: for
nothing prevents that which is defective in one respect being
useful in many others." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the
Church")
"As
[St.] Augustine says (De Civitate Dei xi,16) the price of things salable
does not depend on their degree of nature...but it depends on
their usefulness to man. Hence it is not necessary for the seller
or buyer to be cognizant of the hidden qualities of the thing
sold, but only of such as render the thing adapted to man's use...
Such qualities the seller and buyer can easily discover."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
"[H]uman
law is given to the people among whom there are many lacking
virtue, and it is not given to the virtuous alone. Hence human law
was unable to forbid all that is contrary to virtue; and it
suffices for it to prohibit whatever is destructive of human
intercourse, while it treats other matters as though they were
lawful, not by approving of them, but by not punishing them.
Accordingly, if without employing deceit the seller disposes of
his goods for more than their worth, or the buyer obtain them for
less than their worth, the law looks upon this as licit, and
provides no punishment for so doing, unless the excess be too
great, because then even human law demands restitution to be made,
for instance if a man be deceived in regard to more than half the
amount of the just price of a thing (Codex IV, xliv, De Rescind.
Vend. 2,8). On the other hand the Divine law leaves nothing
unpunished that is contrary to virtue. Hence, according to the
Divine law, it is reckoned unlawful if the equality of justice be
not observed in buying and selling: and he who has received more
than he ought must make compensation to him that has suffered
loss, if the loss be considerable. I add this condition, because
the just price of things is not fixed with mathematical precision,
but depends on a kind of estimate, so that a slight addition or
subtraction would not seem to destroy the equality of
justice." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"It
is always unlawful to give anyone an occasion of danger or loss,
although a man need not always give another the help or counsel
which would be for his advantage in any way; but only in certain
fixed cases, for instance when someone is subject to him, or when
he is the only one who can assist him. Now the seller who offers
goods for sale, gives the buyer an occasion of loss or danger, by
the very fact that he offers him defective goods, if such defect
may occasion loss or danger to the buyer - loss, if, by reason of
this defect, the goods are of less value, and he takes nothing off
the price on that account - danger, if this defect either hinder
the use of the goods or render it hurtful, for instance, if a man
sells a lame for a fleet horse, a tottering house for a safe one,
rotten or poisonous food for wholesome. Wherefore if such like
defects be hidden, and the seller does not make them known, the
sale will be illicit and fraudulent, and the seller will be bound
to compensation for the loss incurred. On the other hand, if the
defect be manifest, for instance if a horse have but one eye, or
if the goods though useless to the buyer, be useful to someone
else, provided the seller take as much as he ought from the price,
he is not bound to state the defect of the goods, since perhaps on
account of that defect the buyer might want him to allow a greater
rebate than he need. Wherefore the seller may look to his own
indemnity, by withholding the defect of the goods." (St.
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian
in the history of the Church")
"It
is altogether sinful to have recourse to deceit in order to sell a
thing for more than its just price, because this is to deceive
one's neighbor so as to injure him. Hence Tully says (De Officiis
iii,15): 'Contracts should be entirely free from double-dealing:
the seller must not impose upon the bidder, nor the buyer upon one
that bids against him.' But, apart from fraud, we may speak of
buying and selling in two ways. First, as considered in
themselves, and from this point of view, buying and selling seem
to be established for the common advantage of both parties, one of
whom requires that which belongs to the other, and vice versa, as
the Philosopher states (Politica i,3). Now whatever is established
for the common advantage, should not be more of a burden to one
party than to another, and consequently all contracts between them
should observe equality of thing and thing. Again, the quality of
a thing that comes into human use is measured by the price given
for it, for which purpose money was invented, as stated in Ethica
Nicomachea v,5. Therefore if either the price exceed the quantity
of the thing's worth, or, conversely, the thing exceed the price,
there is no longer the equality of justice: and consequently, to
sell a thing for more than its worth, or to buy it for less than
its worth, is in itself unjust and unlawful. Secondly we may speak
of buying and selling, considered as accidentally tending to the
advantage of one party, and to the disadvantage of the other: for
instance, when a man has great need of a certain thing, while an
other man will suffer if he be without it. In such a case the just
price will depend not only on the thing sold, but on the loss
which the sale brings on the seller. And thus it will be lawful to
sell a thing for more than it is worth in itself, though the price
paid be not more than it is worth to the owner. Yet if the one man
derive a great advantage by becoming possessed of the other man's
property, and the seller be not at a loss through being without
that thing, the latter ought not to raise the price, because the
advantage accruing to the buyer, is not due to the seller, but to
a circumstance affecting the buyer. Now no man should sell what is
not his, though he may charge for the loss he suffers. On the
other hand if a man find that he derives great advantage from
something he has bought, he may, of his own accord, pay the seller
something over and above: and this pertains to his honesty."
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
Also
See: Economic
Life | Fraud
in Commerce | The
Love of Money | Making
a Good Profit | Many
Sin for the Sake of Profit | Selling
of Spiritual Things / Simony | Testifying
to Christ Through Secular Business | Those
Immersed in Buying & Selling | Trading
is Open to Many Vices | What
Does it Profit to Gain the World and Lose One's Soul | Financial
/ Monetary (Topical Scripture)
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