Occult Compensation is, in the Catholic tradition, the extra-legal taking of goods from a person who has 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 open to all manner of abuses, but the utter denial of it gives the weak no redress against the oppression of the strong.[1]
Catholics believe that occult compensation is justifiable only when
If the debtor or his heirs later make redress, restitution is necessary. Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent scandal.