Justice

Justice:

The word ‘justice’, meaning ‘the exercise of authority in vindication of right by assigning reward or punishment’ is over 860 years old (c. 1140 AD).  ‘Justice’ was once ‘justitia’ an Old French word that descended from Latin to mean ‘righteousness and equity’.  A similar word from the same Latin root was ‘justus’ meaning ‘upright, and just’.  When ‘justitia’ was adopted into Old English it was extremely simplified.  From the original Old French meanings that included, ‘uprightness, equity, vindication of right, court of justice, and judge’, Old English adopted the word only as a title for a judicial officer.

Justice is an important concept in the social and political life of a human being. Justice is an ancient concept. Socrates considered justice as a political virtue. For him, a good society is a just society. Plato has put forward the concept of Justice in his work ‘The Republic’. He considered Justice as one of the characteristics of a human being. Aristotle argued that a society can achieve justice if it is able to create equality, balance and proportion in a society. These definitions of Justice are of the Greek era. In modern times, the concept of Justice has emerged in different ways. They include natural justice, legal justice, social justice and gender justice.