Justice
Schedule Wayne Holstad for Your Group
Order by credit card ~ Order by check or money order
© Alethos Press LLC
PO Box 600160
St. Paul, MN 55106
Justice may not be the
first great interest of the populace as Daniel Webster once said, but it is
the great interest of lawyers and the primary function of government. The
Declaration of Independence, in speaking of human rights, states “that to
secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,” thereby laying
the cornerstone of American justice.
The structure of the American system of justice
is delineated in the United States Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall
then refined the role of the judicial branch when explaining the appropriate
exercise of judicial power in the early cases of the Supreme Court. The
primary function of government under the original American system was to
administer justice.
Rights and justice are related terms. “Rights” are
possessed by individual American citizens. “Justice” is the process, with
enforcement actions, necessary to secure individual rights, and to conform
individual actions and will to the law.
The Biblical translation of “justice” comes from
the Hebrew word “tzedek,” meaning justice and righteousness, and is related
to the Hebrew word “mishpat,” meaning rights. “Justice” simply describes
man’s attempt to do that which is right. God’s standard of justice is a
benchmark that binds everyone, believers and unbelievers, whether living in
obedience or in rebellion, and no man can change that fact. Biblical justice
is the essence of God’s nature and being. In the Scripture, God clearly
explained His principles of justice to man, using understandable terms and
setting achievable standards. Biblical justice employs fairness and equity,
to which all human standards, ordinances and judicial sentences must
conform.
The Legal Standard
Aristotle classified standards of justice into
two categories: commutative justice and distributive justice. These two
basic definitions usefully illustrate the distinction between justice as a
principle of fairness, and justice as a principle of punishment.
Commutative justice governs the law of contracts
and is based upon the principle of equality. Each person is entitled to be
governed by the same set of rules. Discrimination based on status, class or
any other factor is prohibited. This standard is consistent with Biblical
justice and American constitutional tradition.
Distributive justice assigns to each person the
rewards which result from personal merit and service, or the proper
punishment for crimes. Men are not all equally blameworthy or deserving.
Discrimination is not only permissible, but required to maintain a
comparison with the standard and the proportionate deviation from the
standard. This principle of applying a measurement of deviation from a
standard of equality, rather than requiring that outcomes show no deviation,
directly contradicts egalitarian and collectivist theories. The artificial
maintenance of class distinctions, such as in an aristocracy or oligarchy,
and artificial creation of benefits based on membership in a class, such as
in affirmative action or any wealth distribution reform program, violates
the principle of distributive justice.