The Purpose of Law

In the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (2004), published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Specifically, paragraphs 388–398 discuss the purpose of law in the context of the common good, human dignity, and moral order. Read more here: 

Below is a summary:

The natural law, which is the law inscribed by the Creator in the human heart, is the foundation of the civil law. Civil law has as its purpose the promotion of the common good, the protection of the dignity of the person, and the ordering of society in justice and truth.” (¶397, paraphrased)

It also states : 389….  “The full attainment of the common good requires that the political community develop a twofold and complementary action that defends and promotes human rights. “It should not happen that certain individuals or social groups derive special advantage from the fact that their rights have received preferential protection. Nor should it happen that governments in seeking to protect these rights, become obstacles to their full expression and free use”.[789]

Catechism of the Catholic Church 1905-1912 provides an explanation of Law for common good (read it here

By common good is to be understood “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” 

It includes three essential elements:

1. “...Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the  exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as “the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.”  1907

2. “Certainly, it is the proper function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on.” 1908

3. “Finally, the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order. It presupposes that authority should ensure by morally acceptable means the security of society and its members. It is the basis of the right to legitimate personal and collective defense. 1909

Human laws and church laws have to be revised from time to time to assure that they are in harmony with Divine Justice and they must always be measured by the Gospel which is God’s supreme revelation.

I encourage you to watch the video on The Purpose of Law here: https://youtu.be/8WdlgjznvGQ