What is the difference between law and justice?
By Kevin
@excellence7 (3698)
Mauritius
4 responses
@excellence7 (3698)
• Mauritius
7 Oct 15
I agree with your definition of law but I will appreciate if you can emphasize more on what you mean by justice. Thank you.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502190)
• Italy
7 Oct 15
@excellence7 Justice should be something "equal" for everybody. No matter who commits a crime should be punished according to the Laws of a country. What happens, unfortunately, is that the Justice too many times misses to be equal and correct. Rich people escape the punishment, while poor people are punished for very small crimes. In a good world Justice would not be different according to your social status, color of the skin and religion.
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@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
7 Oct 15
Law is fairly easily defined - it is the accumulation of legislation passed by the government of a particular nation (or group of nations in the case of international law).
However, Justice can be defined either as the organisation that manages those members of society who are accused of breaking the laws, or it can be a term in ethics that places a value judgment on a particular decision made in a court of law - the verdict might be thought to be either just or unjust.
That's a very brief summary, and probably leaves out plenty of important aspects of both concepts!
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@excellence7 (3698)
• Mauritius
7 Oct 15
Interesting views. But do you think the judicial system should judge cases on the basis of 'justice' or 'law'?
1 person likes this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
7 Oct 15
@excellence7 Verdicts must be arrived at on the basis of law, but sentences and damages are often open to discretion on the part of judges, who may feel that justice will best be served by a harsher or more lenient penalty.
In the UK system, it is open to a judge to direct a jury to acquit if he feels that justice demands it.
Another thing to remember is that cases may bring laws into court that are contradictory. What a judge decides - in terms of which law is given greater weight - may set a precedent for future cases. His judgment will usually be based on the demands of justice.
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@excellence7 (3698)
• Mauritius
8 Oct 15
@indexer What do you mean by "laws into the court that are contradictory"? Contradictory to what?
@jstory07 (148720)
• Roseburg, Oregon
13 Oct 15
The law and justice should work together but sometimes they do not.
which is sad.
which is sad.
@joylol (148)
• Austin, Texas
8 Oct 15
Hi there! It's been awhile. I'd say a law is systematic ruling for both the prohibition and allowance of certain behaviors for world-wide needs. Laws focus on what is best for the overall population needs like no robberies, standing your trial, freedom of speech, and I'm sure there is more. Laws have an overall view of what actually is right, sometimes due to statistical studies on world-wide needs like food, health, financial well being, social status, etc. Other times, due to past historic experiences that need to be avoided lest the reliving of a disaster occurs again.
Justice is our own personal fixing of how we choose to correct oppression, most of the times due to present pain or past pain. For example, rebel groups may come together due to the loss of something important in their life and want to fix in their own way. In pain, they can relate to eachother and they are bound together by a similar sense of pride.
Their pride is who is right. In short, laws usually focus on an overall view of humility, what is actually right, but laws can occasionally happen because of personal feelings and not always common sense. Justice, on the other hand, is almost always connected to what is believed to be non-biased judgements being brought together by either what is considered actually right on hate and love. It is usually connected to pride.
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