e. For nothing is punished
except what is unlawful. Now those who judge are threatened with
punishment, which those who judge not will escape, according to Matt.
7:1, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." Therefore it is
unlawful to judge.

Obj. 2: Further, it is written (Rom. 14:4): "Who art thou that
judgest another man's servant[?] To his own lord he standeth or
falleth." Now God is the Lord of all. Therefore to no man is it
lawful to judge.

Obj. 3: Further, no man is sinless, according to 1 John 1:8, "If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." Now it is unlawful
for a sinner to judge, according to Rom. 2:1, "Thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest; for wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou dost the same things which
thou judgest." Therefore to no man is it lawful to judge.

_On the contrary,_ It is written (Deut. 16:18): "Thou shalt appoint
judges and magistrates in all thy gates . . . that they may judge the
people with just judgment."

_I answer that,_ Judgment is lawful in so far as it is an act of
justice. Now it follows from what has been stated above (A. 1, ad 1,
3) that three conditions are requisite for a judgment to be an act of
justice: first, that it proceed from the inclination of justice;
secondly, that it come from one who is in authority; thirdly, that it
be pronounced according to the right ruling of prudence. If any one
of these be lacking, the judgment will be faulty and unlawful. First,
when it is contrary to the rectitude of justice, and then it is
called "perverted" or "unjust": secondly, when a man judges about
matters wherein he has no authority, and this is called judgment "by
usurpation": thirdly, when the reason lacks certainty, as when a man,
without any solid motive, forms a judgment on some doubtful or hidden
matter, and then it is called judgment by "suspicion" or "rash"
judgment.

Reply Obj. 1: In these words our Lord forbids rash judgment which is
about the inward intention, or other uncertain things, as Augustine
states (De Serm. Dom. in Monte ii, 18). Or else He forbids judgment
about Divine things, which we ought not to judge, but simply believe,
since they are above us, as Hilary declares in his commentary on
Matt. 5. Or again according to Chrysostom [*Hom. xvii in Matth. in
the Opus Imperfectum falsely ascribed to St. John Chrysostom], He
forbids the judgment which proceeds not from benevolence but from
bitter