The magnificent optimisum of Summa Theologicae is manifest in Thomas' opening sentence of the first article: "Man has a natural aptitude for virtue", the utmost best a person can be.

But this is not a naive optimisum. "The perfection of virtue must be acquired by man by means of some kind of training" which must come from someone else. Thomas expects this training to come primarily from parents by way of correction and admonition. Note that there is no mention of a role of the state, the larger community, in this task of moral training. Thomas is convinced that parental training suffices for "young people who are inclined to virtue, by their good natural dispositions, by custom or by the gift of God". However, there are others who do not get the proper parental training nor are they "inclined to virtue" and for these kind correction is not enough. They need a training that compels through fear of punishment, but a fear of punishment which retains the sense of training: conduces them to stop their evil-doing and accustoms them to behaving well (besides contributing to the common good by leaving others in peace). Law and, when necessary, punishment are for the benefit of the evil-doer. This emphasis on the training, the improvement of the evil-doer is brought up once again in I II 96,2 ad 2 "The purpose of human law is to lead men to virtue, not suddenly, but gradually. Wherefore it does not lay upon the multitude of imperfect men the burdens of those who are already virtuous...Otherwise these imperfect ones, being unable to bear such precepts, would break out into yet greater evil."

Human law flows from the eternal law as the rational creature's participation in caring for himself and others. "Every human law has just so much of the nature of law, as it is derived from the law of nature." (I II 95,2) From the precepts of the natural law which are general principles, human reason proceeds "to the more particular determinaton of certain matters" (I II 91.3)

Thomas revisits the question of the nature of law (Question 90) but focuses solely on human law, citing the 6th century book of Isidore of Seville. At one point, Isidore lists nine qualities of human law and at another only three. Thomas finds these three incorporating the nine. Human law must:

1. foster relegion: it must both acknowledge its participation in the eternal law ("every human law has just so much of the nature of law, as it is derived from the law of nature" 95.2) and fit with the Divine positive law. The conviction that law must foster relegion is shared by Cicero, among others:

True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts wrongdoing by its prohibitions.... It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to attempt to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish it entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment. (De Republica 3:21.)

Hugo Grotius, who allegedly invented natural law four hundred years after Thomas, severs natural law from "relegion" in accord with the entire Enlightenment project with the same results as that project in general.

2. be helpful to discipline: fit with natural law by being i) just, so to be comprehensible, ii) proportional to each according to his ability and to human customs, iii) adapted to the circumstances of time and place.

3. be ordained to the common good, for the "utility of mankind": directed toward removing evils and attaining good. Very much in vogue is the attention to rights, personal goods, but this can be done to the detriment of the common good. "Legal structure should focus on the common good rather than that of the individual", John R. Meyer, Quid est Veritas? Human Freedom After Casey, Faith and Reason, Summer 1993 i.e. rather than personal or private goods. Two examples are protection of life in the womb and the indisolubility of the marriage bond. These could both be considered, alternatively, a common good or a restriction on freedom.

How does Thomas consider the relation of common good to the individual? A reply to an objection gives us a glimpse:

The goodness of any part is considered in comparison with the whole; hence Augustine says (Confess. iii) that "unseemly is the part that harmonizes not with the whole." Since then every man is a part of the state, it is impossible that a man be good, unless he be well proportionate to the common good: nor can the whole be well consistent unless its parts be proportionate to it. Consequently the common good of the state cannot flourish, unless the citizens be virtuous, at least those whose business it is to govern. But it is enough for the good of the community, that the other citizens be so far virtuous that they obey the commands of their rulers. I II 92.1. ad 3

The common good consists in "making the highest activities in man possible in each and every person". James Schall, Uniqueness of the Political Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Human law continues to be oriented to the ultimate end of man. For utilitarianism and pragmatism, law is not oriented toward an ultimate end of man but toward restraining the citizenry from conflicts arising from varying ideologies. The only common good is the order which results.

Another completely contrary point of view is expressed in a majority opinion of the United Stated Supreme Court:

At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of life. Planned Parenthood vs. Casey 1992

The Second Vatican Council stated "Man is the only creature God made 'for itself'" but the US Supreme Court seems to say "Man is the only creature God made without a purpose."

When such unlimited freedom is awarded to the individual, law become an obstacle to human freedom, to self-determination, and the common good disintegrates. As we have have seen, in the view of St. Thomas, there is no conflict between law and freedom. They work together, the first pointing the way to the ultimate end, the later choosing the end. "Free choice is not directly affected by legal dictates: legislation serves to guide the good moral conduct of citizens and strives to ensure the common good of all members of society" Meyer, loc. cit.