Law and Justice

Law and Justice

The meaning of Justice

Justice can be described as fairness and equality. The idea includes treating every case in a like manner, showing impartiality and acting in good faith. However, it has been mulled over centuries, this has lead to a range of theories to explain its meaning and application.

One of the earliest was Plato, a Greek philosopher. He saw it as being harmony between the different sectors or classes in society. He regarded justice as an overarching virtue of both individuals and societies. This is reflected in Criminal and Civil law today

Plato's work was continued by Aristotle, who stressed the need fro proportionality and achieving the middle way. This can be seen in the law's attempts to balance competing interests, such as an individual's right to freedom of expression and protection of society from extreme views.

Thomas Aquinas continued to define justice in a similar way to Aristotle. Justice as governing our relationships with other people. The end result of justice is the common good, for both the individual and society.

After this, theories of justice were rapidly developed, in this we will consider

• Distributive justice- fair allocation of the benefits and responsibilities
• Utilitarianism- maximising happiness is the objective of justice
• Social Justice- equal justice in all aspects of society

Theories of Justice

Distributive justice- there are several philosophers who have expanded this view

• Aristotle- identified particular examples of justice, distributive being one of them. He argued that a just state will distribute its wealth on the basis of merit. Each is given due to their contribution to society. This is where the worthiest, rather than the neediest, receive the greater share. To allocate resources based on people's needs would be unjust, as it would reward the lazy as much as the hard-working. 

• Thomas Aquinas- distributive justice concerns the fair allocation of goods and responsibilities. This is governed by the principle of due proportion. This means that people receive in accordance to their merit, rank and need. Merit is based on that it would be wrong to pay workers an equal amount for unequal work. He based his doctrine on natural law.

• Karl Marx- founder of communism developed a different model of distributive justice. The slogan is 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need'. This encompasses two principles of communism;

1. each will maximise their contribution to the common wealth by making full use of their abilities,

2. and each will receive according to their need, regardless of the personal contribution they have made.

Aristotle would have regarded this as unjust as it potentially gives the greatest rewards to the least contributive and thus least deserving.

• Chaim Perelman- he concluded that justice cannot be studied logically, as each attempt is based upon a person's subjective values. He discussed different understandings of justice

1. To each according to his merits- each person is treated how they deserve, the good are rewarded and the bad are deprived or punished. This is…