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Justice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lady Justice - allegory of Justice as woman with sword and with book - statue at court building.

For other uses, see Justice (disambiguation).

Justice (French justice from Latin iustitia, from iustus "just") is a concept involving the fair, moral, and impartial treatment of all persons —often seen as the continued effort to do what is right. Justice is a particularly foundational concept within most systems of "law," and draws highly upon established and well-regarded social traditions and values. From the perspective of pragmatism, it is the name for a fair result.

In most cases what one regards as "right" is determined by consulting established and agreeable principles, employing logic, or, in certain systems, by consulting a majority. In contexts where religion is a dominant, the pursuit of justice may be aided by deferring to religious texts and even spiritual guidance. If a person lives under a certain set law in a country, concepts of "justice" are often simply deferential to the existing law —the issuing of punitive reprimands for violations may be referred to as "serving justice."

Classically, justice was the ability to recognize one's debts and pay them. It was a virtue that encompassed an unwillingness to lie or steal. It was the basis for the code duello. In this view, justice is the opposite of the vice of venality.

In jurisprudence, justice is the obligation that the legal system has toward the individual citizen and the society as a whole.

Justice (in both senses) is part of the debate regarding moral relativism and moral objectivism: Is there an "objective standard" of justice, under which all actions should be judged, or is it acceptable for justice to have different meanings in different societies? Some cultures, for instance, see punishments such as the death penalty as being appropriate, while others decry such acts as crimes against humanity.

Justice, by Luca Giordano

In some cases, justice is not equated with laws. For instance, laws that supported slavery are now considered unjust laws such as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 in the United States. Also, many laws of illegitimate governments are considered unjust. Further, the social justice movement questions the morality of laws that protect property rights without adequate protection of the poor, especially those laws governing international trade.

One popular theory of justice holds that if a person or government initiates coercion (or the threat of it) then it is acting unjustly; physical force may only be used in defense. As long as all persons and governments adhere to this standard, justice is being observed. This theory of justice is central to libertarianism.

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