depends on its relation to the agent
only, whereas the right in a work of justice, besides its relation to
the agent, is set up by its relation to others. Because a man's work
is said to be just when it is related to some other by way of some
kind of equality, for instance the payment of the wage due for a
service rendered. And so a thing is said to be just, as having the
rectitude of justice, when it is the term of an act of justice,
without taking into account the way in which it is done by the agent:
whereas in the other virtues nothing is declared to be right unless
it is done in a certain way by the agent. For this reason justice has
its own special proper object over and above the other virtues, and
this object is called the just, which is the same as _right._ Hence
it is evident that right is the object of justice.

Reply Obj. 1: It is usual for words to be distorted from their
original signification so as to mean something else: thus the word
"medicine" was first employed to signify a remedy used for curing a
sick person, and then it was drawn to signify the art by which this
is done. In like manner the word _jus_ (right) was first of all used
to denote the just thing itself, but afterwards it was transferred to
designate the art whereby it is known what is just, and further to
denote the place where justice is administered, thus a man is said to
appear _in jure_ [*In English we speak of a court of law, a barrister
at law, etc.], and yet further, we say even that a man, who has the
office of exercising justice, administers the _jus_ even if his
sentence be unjust.

Reply Obj. 2: Just as there pre-exists in the mind of the craftsman
an expression of the things to be made externally by his craft, which
expression is called the rule of his craft, so too there pre-exists
in the mind an expression of the particular just work which the
reason determines, and which is a kind of rule of prudence. If this
rule be expressed in writing it is called a "law," which according to
Isidore (Etym. v, 1) is "a written decree": and so law is not the
same as right, but an expression of right.

Reply Obj. 3: Since justice implies equality, and since we cannot
offer God an equal return, it follows that we cannot make Him a
perfectly just repayment. For this reason the Divine law is not
properly called _jus_ but _fas,_ because, to wit, God is satisfied if
we accomplish what we can. Nevertheless justice tends to make man
repay God