Distributism, Catholic Social Teaching, and Latin Civilization:
Law within the limits and in the service of human nature
A society characterised by universal access to material goods remains an unfulfilled postulate
in the modern world, in which the accumulation of capital occurs on an unprecedented scale.
The question becomes all the more important the more closely one examines the nature of the
institution of private property and its importance for the good, or in other words, virtuous
human life.
An effort to study this question was made by Hilaire Belloc and Gilbert Keith Chesterton, two
English Catholic thinkers who in the first half of the twentieth century gave birth to the
concept of an economic system known as distributism. The said doctrine assumes the
subordination of the political and legal system to the goal of the widest possible distribution
of private property, which is the only guarantee of economic freedom – and thus the
realisation of human dignity on the individual scale and the common good in the perspective
of the whole society.
Described vision assumes not only systemic postulates, but also a necessary condition of the
universal recognition of objective morality, which excludes a strictly materialistic perception
of human existence. Thus, a broader context of the presented doctrine is revealed, which
directly draws on the teaching of the Catholic Church (primarily Catholic social teaching);
and indirectly from the philosophical heritage of the whole of humanity.
The aforementioned perspective is also inspired by the writings of the Polish scholar Feliks
Koneczny, the author of the original concept of Civilizations, and especially of the Latin
Civilization – in his opinion is a model society, based on Christianity’s fruitful efforts to
perfect the practical base of Greek philosophy and Roman law. A clear example of the
validity of using such a method in the context of distributism is the comparative use of the
works of Aristotle – dealing with the importance of private property for the practice of
virtues; as well as the idea of the best possible political system, which, according to Stagyrite,
should be based on the middle class.
The aim of my research is to determine the general and specific features of such a political
and legal system (currently especially in the context of the aforementioned wide distribution
of property), which in its essence is based on the foundation of the natural law expounded in
the thought of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. In this perspective, the positive
(human) law, properly understood, must act within the limits and in the service of the natural
law – which should be understood as the participation of the rational creature (i.e. man) in the
eternal, universal order. Only such a perception of things guarantees that human action is
embedded in an objectively true reality, thus enabling man’s efforts to bear genuinely good
fruits.
My scientific efforts in this area resulted in the development of a doctoral dissertation at the
Doctoral School of Social Sciences of the University of Lodz in the discipline of legal
sciences. The title of the thesis, successfully defended in June 2024, is: Distributism of Hilaire
Belloc and Gilbert Keith Chesterton: Catholic Social Teaching Against the Errors of
Capitalism and Socialism.
Publications
Boruta Paweł, Tulejski Tomasz, Poza kapitalizmem i socjalizmem. Dystrybucjonizm jako alternatywa wobec materialistycznego postrzegania ludzkiej egzystencji [Beyond Capitalism
and Socialism: Distributism as the Alternative to the Materialistic Concept of Human
Existence], Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne, t. CIV, 2017, s. 27-44.
Boruta Paweł, Trzy oblicza własności. O roli własności prywatnej w systemie społeczno-ekonomicznym na podstawie twórczości H. Belloca oraz G.K. Chestertona [Three Faces of
Property: On the Role of Private Property in Economic and Social System Based on the Works
of H. Belloc and G.K. Chesterton], Studenckie Zeszyty Naukowe 2018, Vol. XXI, nr 38, s. 21-32.
Boruta Paweł, Św. Tomasz z Akwinu w służbie Wielkiego Narodu. Zarys myśli ekonomicznej i politycznej Adama Doboszyńskiego [St. Thomas Aquinas Serving the Composite Nation:
Economic and Political Thought of Adam Doboszynski], Studia Prawnicze i Administracyjne 28 (2) 2019, s. 3-10.
Boruta Paweł, U kresu drogi do państwa niewolniczego. Krytyka socjalizmu w twórczości Hilaire Belloca i Gilberta Keitha Chestertona [At the Road's End to the Servile State.
Criticism of Socialism in the Works of Hilaire Belloc and Gilbert Keith Chesterton], Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne, t. CX, 2019, s. 37-52.
Boruta Paweł, Cywilizacja zagrożona rozpadem. Wpływ reformacji na ustrój ekonomiczny Europy według Hilaire Belloca [Civilization in Peril of Dissolution. Impact of Reformation on
Europe’s Economic System by Hilaire Belloc], Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne, t. CXII, 2019, s. 11-26
Boruta Paweł, Własność i cywilizacja łacińska. Dystrybucjonizm w myśli polityczno-prawnej Feliksa Konecznego [Property and the Latin Civilization. Distributism in the Political and
Legal Thought of Feliks Koneczny], Studia Prawno-Ekonomiczne, t. CXXVI, 2023, s. 9-25.
Boruta Paweł, Własność a autonomia jednostek i społeczności - perspektywa dystrybucjonizmu [Property and Autonomy: The Perspective of Distributism], [w:] Szpoper Dariusz, Dąbrowski Przemysław (red.): Suwerenność, autonomia i podmiotowość, 2023, Sopot, Wydawnictwo Arche Marek Tokarczyk, s. 46-53.
