Resumen de Thomas Aquinas, the thomists and political consent

Thomas Varacalli

• This article raises two questions: Does Thomas Aquinas have a well-developed notion of political consent? If so, have his political disciples employed it? The article argues that Aquinas articulates a version of consent in his writings on custom, the mixed regime, the deposition of tyranny, and the law of nations. The article also finds that many of Aquinas' political disciples -- John Fortescue, Francisco de Vitoria, Bartolomé de Las Casas, and Richard Hooker -- do not ground their more > elaborate systems of consent upon Aquinas' writings.