JUSTICE Antony Veliyath

 

JUSTICE

Justice is a much invoked claim and virtue. All men appeal to justice and demand justice. But at the same time justice is a much controverted concept. It is the subject of many disputes and arguments. Justice is one of those fundamental notions of moral and juridical life which can not easily be defined..Three such common notes can be distinguished. The first is that justice is a social norm that is directive for guiding men in their actions toward one another. The second note is that justice is very sensitive in the sense that judging an action to be just manifests approval of that action. Third, justice is obligatory in that judging a certain course of action to be just entails that a person in that like situation ought to do the samething.Justice is more closely associated with the norms of law or morality. There are basically three theories as to the essence of justice: the positive law theory .The first one defines justice as conformity to the law, and thereby reduces the just to the legal. The concept of justice could as well be replaced by legality. The theory can claim in its favor that many rights stem from legal provisions. The social good theory defines justice as doing what is useful for the social good. Hence justice is a wider concept than legality. Justice obliges a man to do what promotes the social good already prior to the demands of positive law. The natural right theory holds that natural right is the ultimate basis of justice.

            Following Plato and Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, as one of the out standing representatives of the natural right theory which defines justice as the firm and constant will to give to each one his due. This definition has been adopted by many scholars among as well as theologians. Justice is the right action or the righteous way. As a philosophy student I come across several situations when I want to ask about some wrong doings I got some bitter experience .The virtue of justice stands for the glittering face of light. Justice is the fundamental virtue of the humanity . If this quality is within us we would be a better person.