Restitución y Esclavitud Negra en Tomás de Mercado

Abstract

After briefly introducing the theme of penalty and punishment in the First and Second Scholasticism’s tradition, we seek to show the development that Tomas de Mercado (1525-1575) makes of the concept of Restitution in his Summa de Tratos e Contratos written in 1571 with an especial emphasis on the black slavery problem. In it, he will defend the Restitution as an imperative of justice that binds in consciousness and which cannot be dispensed by any power since it is a mandate of the natural law.