Occult Compensation is, in the radical Catholic tradition, the extra-legal taking of goods from a person who refused to meet the demands of justice, for a value equivalent to the loss or damage inflicted.
Occult compensation is a demand in commutative justice and deducible from the principle of self-defense. It is, of course, open to all manner of abuses, but the utter denial of it gives the weak no redress against the oppression of the strong.
Catholics believe that occult compensation is justifiable only when
- The right of the creditor is certain
- No recourse to the law is possible or feasible
If the debtor or his heirs later make redress, restitution is necessary.
Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent scandal.
Famous quotes containing the words occult and/or compensation:
“There is no more foul or relentless enemy of man in the occult world than this dead-alive creature spewed up from the grave.”
—Guy Endore, and Tod Browning. Prof. Zelenn (Lionel Barrymore)
“... the compensation for a death sentence is knowledge of the exact hour when one is to die. A great luxury, but one that is well earned.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)