John Paul II, The Structures of Sin and the Limits of Law
John Paul II, The Structures of Sin and the Limits of Law
John M. Breen, 52 St. Louis U. L.J. 317 (2008)
Part of the intellectual work that must be performed in every discipline is the work of circumscribing the limits of the discipline itself. Indeed, in order to carry the discipline forward, it is vitally important to know what lies within its boundaries and what exceeds them. The same can be said of the terms and definitions that make up the conceptual framework within a given field of study. That is, in order to understand a particular concept, it is necessary to be able to identify that to which it refers, as well as that to which it does not. Because law is a normative discipline, its boundaries are not merely conceptual. They are also prudential.
The topic I wish to explore in the essay that follows is how John Paul II helped to perform this important task with respect to law. He reminded us of the limits of law, of what exceeds the competence of juridical authority. Briefly put, the law may be employed as a means of eliminating or reforming the systemic defects or problems in society that the late pontiff referred to as “structures of sin,” but because it cannot reach the recesses of the human heart, law is severely limited in bringing about true social transformation. Where the ambitions behind a given statute or judicial opinion go beyond law’s capacity to achieve justice and promote the common good, modesty dictates a different course. To put the matter in a slightly different fashion, John Paul’s thought helped to identify the somewhat nebulous line where law ends and society begins. In doing so, John Paul contributed to the long tradition of reflection on the meaning of “culture” and its relationship to law found in the Catholic intellectual tradition in general and the Church’s social teaching in particular.