4, p. 273). However, that form of communism which entailed an
absolutely even division of all wealth among all members of the group,
though it had come to them on the authority of Phileas and Lycurgus, was
indeed to be reprobated, for it contradicted the prime feature of all
creation. God made all things in their proper number, weight, and
measure. Yet in spite of all this it must be insisted on at the risk of
repetition that the socialist theory of State ownership is never
considered unjust, never in itself contrary to the moral law. Albertus
Magnus, the master of Aquinas, and the leader in commenting on
Aristotle's _Politics_, freely asserts that community of goods "is not
impossible, especially among those who are well disciplined by the
virtue of philanthropy--that is, the common love of all; for love, of
its own nature, is generous." But to arrange it, the power of the State
must be called into play; it cannot rest on any private authority. "This
is the proper task of the legislator, for it is the duty of the
legislator to arrange everything for the best advantage of the
citizens" (_In Politicis_, ii. 2, p. 70, Lyons, 1651). Such, too, is the
teaching of St. Antonino, who even goes so far as to assert that "just
as the division of property at the beginning of historic time was made
by the authority of the State, it is evident that the same authority is
equally competent to reverse its decision and return to its earlier
social organisation" (_Summa Moralis_, ii. 3, 2, Verona, 1740, p. 182).
He lays down, indeed, a principle so broad that it is difficult to
understand where it could well end: "That can be justly determined by
the prince which is necessary for the peaceful intercourse of the
citizens." And in defence he points triumphantly to the fact that the
prince can set aside a just claim to property, and transfer it to
another who happens to hold it by prescription, on the ground of the
numerous disputes which might otherwise be occasioned. That is to say,
that the law of his time already admitted that in certain circumstances
the State could take what belonged to one and give it to another,
without there being any fault on the part of the previous owner to
justify its forfeiture; and he defends this proceeding on the axiom just
cited (_ibid._, pp. 182-3), namely, its necessity "for the peaceful
intercourse of the citizens."

The Schoolmen can therefore be regarded as a consistent and logical
school. They had an