bject to the power of an individual can be disposed of according
to his will, hence it is that the decision of matters between one man
and another, and the punishment of evildoers, depend on the direction
of those in authority, to whom men are subject. On the other hand,
the power of private persons is exercised over the things they
possess: and consequently their dealings with one another, as regards
such things, depend on their own will, for instance in buying,
selling, giving, and so forth. Now the Law provided sufficiently in
respect of each of these relations between one man and another. For
it established judges, as is clearly indicated in Deut. 16:18: "Thou
shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all its [Vulg.: 'thy'] gates
. . . that they may judge the people with just judgment." It is also
directed the manner of pronouncing just judgments, according to Deut.
1:16, 17: "Judge that which is just, whether he be one of your own
country or a stranger: there shall be no difference of persons." It
also removed an occasion of pronouncing unjust judgment, by
forbidding judges to accept bribes (Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19). It
prescribed the number of witnesses, viz. two or three: and it
appointed certain punishments to certain crimes, as we shall state
farther on (ad 10).

But with regard to possessions, it is a very good thing, says the
Philosopher (Polit. ii, 2) that the things possessed should be
distinct, and the use thereof should be partly common, and partly
granted to others by the will of the possessors. These three points
were provided for by the Law. Because, in the first place, the
possessions themselves were divided among individuals: for it is
written (Num. 33:53, 54): "I have given you" the land "for a
possession: and you shall divide it among you by lot." And since many
states have been ruined through want of regulations in the matter of
possessions, as the Philosopher observes (Polit. ii, 6); therefore
the Law provided a threefold remedy against the irregularity of
possessions. The first was that they should be divided equally,
wherefore it is written (Num. 33:54): "To the more you shall give a
larger part, and to the fewer, a lesser." A second remedy was that
possessions could not be alienated for ever, but after a certain
lapse of time should return to their former owner, so as to avoid
confusion of possessions (cf. ad 3). The third remedy aimed at the
removal of this confusion, and provided that the dead