Abstract

After having analysed the coincidence of moral and legal obligations for human conscience as it has been conceptualised by Francisco Suárez, the article retraces the itinerary of the idea of debt in his work. The first formulation of debt is strictly connected with natural law and religion; then Suárez expands his perspective to investigate the relationship between debt and sin - the latter coinciding with the disregard of God and of law, as well as with the disregard of the work of the legislator. Moving from the assumption that practical certainty is the only practical rule for the resolution of doubts, Suárez elaborates the idea of permissive law as a sphere of relative autonomy for the law, which allows it to transcend its foundational and imperative character.