Legitimus

Abstract

The Friars Minor of San Francisco posed a serious problem to the jurists, and also to the Church. Because they not only wanted not to be the owners of anything, “neither in common nor in particular", but also to live outside the law. Various jurists proposed a compromise formula, namely, the Holy See was the owner of the goods they used, and the Franciscans would have a usufruct over them. They rejected this possibility because it involved using the right. They used dominia, libertates or facultates granted Ex Prima justitia Dei, even before the Natural Law. A term had to be found to describe this reality that was not based on any existing law. Until then, the adjective legitimus had designated the use permitted by law. But in an impersonal as well as a collective way, the semantic dimension of this word was derived until it designated a lawful and pre-legal behavior. This mentality reached maturity with Francisco Suárez, who spoke of a Qualitas moralis. But in the meantime, the use of the term “legitimo" in the indicated sense was consolidated.