The Catholic Church refers to the Ten Commandments as the precepts which bear upon the fundamental obligations of religion and morality relating to man's duty to God, as well as to his fellow man.Written by the very finger of God, expressing His will, and handed over to Moses on two stone tablets at Mount Sinai thousands of years ago.
Jesus Christ revealed them as binding, clarified the spirit behind many of their basic principles, and even added to them with his edict to love your neighbor as you love God.
The 10th Commandment serves to rebuke us and restrain us from overly desiring what is the property of another man, popularly expressed as: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods."
This commandment is meant to protect men's natural property rights against the injustice of his fellow men, against 'covetousness', which is said to be an unreasonable desire for that which we do not possess.
The Church could be said to break down this command into two primary ideas: 'property', and men's 'rights' to same. Your 'property' is anything for which you are the person who would enjoy the full right to dispose of it in any manner not forbidden by law.
