Upon leafing through Anthony's Sermones, it is surprising to note that Saint Anthony spoke very little about human laws. He points out their insufficiency and ambiguity, painting an extremely negative picture of the justice of his day, both of the form of institutional knowledge and, even more, of the juridical profession in general, as will be later illustrated.

Anthony shows in this work a certain loss of trust in the civic political organisation and an even greater pessimism about the administration of justice in the courts, where, he observes "plots of the powerful against the miserable, cruel sentences given to the poor, who cry innocent tears and have no one to sustain them."

It is this arrogance of the strong, this contempt for the poor and their suffering that makes our Saint indignant.

Pettifogging craftiness degenerates the law, which rather than serving as protection of the person and his indefeasible rights, is easily surrendered to selfish ends and private interests. The only law which Anthony gives full credit is divine law: that which was impressed in human nature by the creator and that which was positively formulated, first of all in the revelation of the Ten Commandments, and which was lifted to its final perfection by Christ during his talk on the Mount. In his eyes, only this is the fundamental norm of practice, able to deliver man to true justice.

Law and all of civil and canonical legislation can, without a doubt, have great value, in so much as by ordering social and ecclesiastic relationships they are a means that help man to live by divine law, easing the practice of evangelical justice. Saint Anthony, however, observes with regret that in the Church and the society of the time, justice had come to have a relevance and deadly primacy as compared to the pure law of the Gospel, of an authentic life of piety and charity that should animate the societas christiana. "In the curiae of the bishops they resound Justinian law, not that of Christ; those impious ones tell fables, not your law, oh Lord, which has become forsaken and hated."

From that "adulterine" predominance of law in the heart of the Church itself, and, therefore, in the most highly qualified seats of ecclesiastical and pastoral institutions, Anthony realised, with pained astonishment, the contortion of values and of the legal system that derived from the practices of the ecclesiastical system. In that system, if a pastor of the Church committed an infraction against a papal decree he was immediately accused, taken to court, proved guilty and removed from office. "If, however, he commits a serious wrong against the Gospel of Christ, which he is required to observe above all other things, no one accuses him, no one reproves him."

With the critical liberty of the prophet, the follower of Francis reproved even more bitterly the monks and religious, who are no less guilty than the prelates of eluding the law of the Gospel in the name of their monastic constitutions and traditions, or of following their own fleeting and empty worldly interests.

They can be found everywhere, he notes, at fairs and in the markets, intent on buying and selling, on stipulating contracts and arguing in court, enlisting witnesses, civil lawyers and canonists to defend transient and useless goods.

Tell me, oh foolish ones, exclaims the Saint with indignant irony, if in the Bible or in the rules of Benedict or Augustine something similar is allowed, above all you who have chosen the way of perfection and so should love your enemies, do good even for your persecutors, ceding your own rights! These men show themselves to be obstinately careful and needy about the material privileges and concessions provided for in their constitutions, but they are not at all concerned about observing the law of Christ, which should be preferred above all other rules, institutions, traditions and other inventions of man, because only His law can save us.