ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF POPE LEO XTTT. 143
and justly so, because their immediate purpose is the private advantage of the associates. Now a private society, says St. Thomas again, is one which is formed for the purpose of carrying out private business ; as when two or ihr& enter into a partnership with the view of trading in conjunction* Particular societies, then, although they exist within the State, and are each a part of the State, nevertheless cannot be prohibited by the State absolutely and as such. For to enter into " society " of this kind is the n&tural right of man; and the State must protect natural rights, not destroy them; and if it forbids its citizens to form associations, it contradicts the very prin- ciple of its own existence ; for both they and it exist in virtue ol the same principle, viz., the natural propensity of man to live in society.
56. There are times, no doubt, when it is right that the law should interfere to prevent association ; as when men join together for purposes which are evidently bad, unjust, or dangerous to the State. In such cases the public authority may justly forbid the formation of asso- ciations, and may dissolve them when they already exist. But every precaution should be taken not to violate the rights of individuals and not to make unreasonable regu- lations under the pretense of public benefit. For laws only bind when they are in accordance with right reason, and therefore with the eternal law of God.t
57. And here we are reminded of the Confraternities, Societies, and Religious Orders, which have arisen by the Church's authority and the piety of the Christian people.
- Ibid.
t "Human laic is lain only in virtue of its accordance with right reason: and thus it is manifest that it flows from the eternal law. And in so far as it deviates from right reason it is called an unjust law; in such case it is not law at all, but rather a species of violence." St. Thomas of Aquin, Summa Theologica, la 2se Q. xciii. Art.. 3.
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