What is justice? Can we live in a just world? I don’t really know the answer to these questions because justice is a very complex matter with an extremely broad spectrum. Sadly, we live in an existence where righteousness has by no means truly transpired. Justice is something that everyone is entitled to and should be an essential part of any lawful system. With this statement comes numerous questions such as, Are all laws just laws? Is the legal system just? Can there be justice for all? And Can there be equality for all people? According to Webster’s dictionary justice is” The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments: the administration of law; especially the establishment or determination of rights according to the rules of law or equity. The quality of being just, impartial, or fair, the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action, conformity to this principle or ideal, righteousness, the quality of conforming to law, conformity to truth, fact, or reason and correctness (Webster’s Dictionary)”. In my opinion the definition of justice has a personal meaning for each individual and is defined based on a person’s life experiences. Defining the meaning of justice has been an ongoing struggle since the beginning of time. It beleaguered ancient philosophers and still plagues modern political thinkers to this day. Where does one even begin to dissect such a multifaceted topic. In The Republic, Plato, the greatest political philosopher explores the meaning of justice through many characters and dialogues of O'Keefe 2 Socrates... ... middle of paper ... ... still going on in our country. He would be pleased of how far we've come O'Keefe 6 in forty years but would still find needs for improvement. One such instance would be in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One of the main topics of debate after the tragedy was whether or not the government's sluggish reaction time had anything to do with the fact that New Orleans was sixty-seven percent African American. On the other hand he would be extremely pleased that our country elected Barack Obama to be the president of the United States. The meaning of justice will be disputed until the end of time. It is my feeling that that both ancient philosophers and modern thinkers alike can accept the meaning of justice as Cephalus gives to Socrates in the commencement of Plato's Republic that "justice consists in giving each what is owed" (Davis-Judd, 4).
By definition justice means the quality of being just or fair. The issue then stands, is justice fair for everyone? Justice is the administration of law, the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments, "justice deferred is justice denied.” The terms of Justice is brought up in Henry David Thoreau’s writing, “Civil Disobedience.”
Justice is defined in many different ways, one referring to a form of judgment that provides order in a situation. Justice offers a fair punishment that fits the offense. The term holds a positive connotation, in contrast to the word injustice.
Justice is described as “a moral concept that is difficult to define, but in essence it means to treat people in ways consistent with
What is justice to you. Justice is known to dictionary.com as, “the quality of being just; righteoussness, equitableness, or moral rightness”. So how do you define justice. Is it fairness or correctness, maybe it’s throwing all the bad guys in jail. In To Kill a Mockingbird and The Merchant of Venice justice is defined several times in several different ways that open to our eyes if we look through one of the character’s. When looking through a character’s eyes we must take a look at someone’s background hence absorbing their perspective and understanding their
Moral rightness and fairness are two alternate ways of saying justice. Justice is defined in a legal dictionary on law.com as “a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/ her/its due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal.” There are many different opinions on the law and justice systems in America, many of which are not particularly positive. Law.com also states, one problem can be found in the attorneys, judges, and legislators, as they tend to get caught up more in the procedure than actually achieving justice for the people. While others say that our law system is not interested in finding out the truth, but more criticisms can also be seen in Herman Melville’s story, “Bartleby, the Scrivener.” Melville
From the creation of the very first civilizations, people have been using laws for potential disputes and or other issues that they come across. With the evolution of time and the expansion of the legal system, many laws were established that did not promote justice and equality. In essence, they did not take into consideration the ethical and racial implications that these laws generated. In our days, laws of this nature are still in effect and are characterized as unjust. They can be found anywhere and can take various forms.
The interpretation of justice differs between individuals based on their previous experiences, education and culture they were raised with. Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, narrates as Scout Finch who is the daughter of Maycomb county famous Atticus Finch. While discussing Tom Robinson’s case (???? check quote) Scout discusses, ““Atticus, you must be wrong…” “How’s that?” “Well, more folks seem to think they’re right and you’re wrong…?(FIND PAGE NUMBER)”” Although Atticus has a greater grasp of the law than the population of Maycomb County,
The dictionary defines justice as the quality of being just, impartial, or fair. In the small town of Maycomb, Alabama, justice holds another definition, one of holding unjust and racism. By using Harper Lee's characters as "mockingbirds" she proves that this justice isn't fair. However, since the 1930's, justice has become more fair.
It is a middle ground between the best and the worst. The inclination of all is to do injustice without paying any price for that action, the worst is to suffer injustice without being able to take revenge (37). It follows then that justice becomes a mean between these two extreme scenarios. Most people will tend to value justice not because it is a good in itself but because they do not have the ability to do injustice without negative consequences. An individual that does possess the ability to practice injustice without consequence will therefore never willingly enter into agreement not to do injustice for the simple proclamation of not to suffer it. For a man such as this, that would be truly mad.
Most people would dispute that the significance of law in society is to obtain justice, however justice is simply a term which is determined subjectively, it relates to an individuals
According to Pojman (2006), justice is the constant and perpetual will to give every man his due. This would seem to imply that for justice to be carried out, people must get what they deserve. But there is some debate over what being just entails; to be just is to be fair, but is being fair truly to give people what they deserve? In this essay, I will detail why justice requires that people are given what they deserve through the scope of punishment, reward, and need.
There is no such thing as justice - in or out of court. Clarence Darrow i
Of course I looked “justice” up in the dictionary before I started to write this paper and I didn’t find anything of interest except of course a common word in every definition, that being “fair”. This implies that justice would have something to do with being fair. I thought that if one of the things the law and legal system are about is maintaining and promoting justice and a sense of “fairness”, they might not be doing such a spiffy job. An eye for an eye is fair? No, that would be too easy, too black and white. I could cite several examples where I thought a judge’s or jury’s ruling was not fair, but I won’t because frankly, we’ve all seen those.
Can there be justice for all? To answer this question I must first define what justice is. Justice is ?the quality of being just, impartial or fair? in your dealings with others according to Merriam Webster?s Collegiate Dictionary. Keeping that definition in mind, I now must turn to the Voices of Wisdom in order to find an example of a situation in which all parties feel that they are being treated justly. After examining examples such as: Euthanasia, discrimination based on sexual orientation, and equal opportunity offered within the book, it becomes clear to me that there is in fact no possible way for there to be justice for all because everyone?s judgement is in some way or another clouded by their own self interests.
...fair to be skeptical about the second half of this claim, the first half of it does in fact seems reasonable. Therefore, justice does only seem to be the virtue of resolving conflicts amongst other things, which does makes it artificial in a sense.