Since Plato's time, legal and political commentators have been struggling with the
question of whether justice is a component of law or is merely a moral stance about law.
Virtually every author on the topic has either deduced that justice is just a judgment regarding
the law or has provided no response to support a hypothesis that justice is indeed part of the law.
This essay tries to demonstrate both areas of convergence and divergence in the concepts of law
and justice and concludes that there are significant points of departure. This article begins by
distinguishing the two terms and then examines their similarities and differences.
Law is a set of rules which are developed and implemented to control conduct through
social or governmental organizations. It can be described as both the "the science of justice" and
"the art of justice." Law is a framework that controls and guarantees that people or a community
conform to the expectations of the state (Robertson 2013). They differ from nation to nation and
there is a body of international regulations that applies to all nations that choose to be bound by
them. Laws create what should and should not be done by people, businesses, and government
entities. On the other hand, justice is a wide and somehow abstract concept centered on equal
treatment, fairness, kindness, integrity, and morality. Therefore, all legislation should be built on
the premise of justice and hence all states should implement domestic law in a just and fair
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manner. Regrettably, that is not always the reality and laws are often breached, unrespected
and/or implemented in selective and partial ways.
The concepts of law and justice are relatively comparable since most laws are assumed to
be fair and just. Some of the obvious similarities include: both concepts control human conduct
and strive to create a more just and fair atmosphere; law should also be based on the principle of
justice and therefore should be enforced and practiced in a fair way–without segregation; and
both are anchored on the ideas of ethics, equality, order, and fairness.
Even though the two concepts are generally linked, there are key differences which
cannot be ignored which include: laws can differ from nation to nation, and the method with
which they are established can also be different. Law seems to be the only social process learned
in institutions that lacks any meaningful claim to universality (Friedman 1986). For example,
laws are embraced in democratic countries after a long discourse and much longer procedures of
separation of powers; on the other hand, laws are determined and developed by the party in
power (or the individual in power) in authoritarian countries without obtaining the backing of the
majority. Conversely, the concept of justice is more or less compatible across all nations: moral
principles and morality tend to override boundaries and cultural divisions.
In the final analysis the concepts of law and justice often go hand in hand, but they refer
to two distinct ideas. Law is a system of laws, standards, values and norms developed by the
country's government to control citizens ' lives and actions. Laws are established and
implemented by the state and its bodies, including safety forces, police, judiciary, etc. On the
other hand, justice is a much more abstract idea based on the concept of equality and fairness.
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All regulations should be based on the principle of justice and should be established and
implemented in a fair manner without prejudice to sex, sexuality, and age.
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References
Robertson, Geoffrey. Crimes against humanity: The struggle for global justice. The New Press,
2013.
Friedman, Lawrence M. "The law and society movement." Stanford Law Review (1986): 763-
780.