Adjacent Words

Justice definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

JUST'ICE, n. [L. justitia, from justus, just.]
1. The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men with each other; honesty; integrity in commerce or mutual intercourse. Justice is distributive or commutative. Distributive justice belongs to magistrates or rulers, and consists in distributing to every man that right or equity which the laws and the principles of equity require; or in deciding controversies according to the laws and to principles of equity. Commutative justice consists in fair dealing in trade and mutual intercourse between man and man.
2. Impartiality; equal distribution of right in expressing opinions; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit. In criticisms, narrations, history or discourse, it is a duty to do justice to every man, whether friend or foe.
3. Equity; agreeableness to right; as, he proved the justice of his claim. This should, in strictness, be justness.
4. Vindictive retribution; merited punishment. Sooner or later, justice overtakes the criminal.
5. Right; application of equity. His arm will do him justice.
6. [Low L. justiciarius.] A person commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice to individuals; as the Chief Justice of the king's bench, or of the common pleas, in England; the Chief Justice of the supreme court in the United States, etc. and justices of the peace.
JUST'ICE, v.t. To administer justice. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of being just or fair [syn: justice, justness] [ant: injustice, unjustness]
2: judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments
3: a public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice [syn: judge, justice, jurist]
4: the United States federal department responsible for enforcing federal laws (including the enforcement of all civil rights legislation); created in 1870 [syn: Department of Justice, Justice Department, Justice, DoJ]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French justise, from Latin justitia, from justus Date: 12th century 1. a. the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments b. judge c. the administration of law; especially the establishment or determination of rights according to the rules of law or equity 2. a. the quality of being just, impartial, or fair b. (1) the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action (2) conformity to this principle or ideal ; righteousness c. the quality of conforming to law 3. conformity to truth, fact, or reason ; correctness

Britannica Concise

In philosophy, the concept of a proper proportion between a person's deserts (what is merited) and the good and bad things that befall or are allotted to him or her. Aristotle's discussion of the virtue of justice has been the starting point for almost all Western accounts. For him, the key element of justice is treating like cases alike, an idea that has set later thinkers the task of working out which similarities (need, desert, talent) are relevant. Aristotle distinguishes between justice in the distribution of wealth or other goods (distributive justice) and justice in reparation, as, for example, in punishing someone for a wrong he has done (retributive justice). The notion of justice is also essential in that of the just state, a central concept in political philosophy. See also law.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 just conduct. 2 fairness. 3 the exercise of authority in the maintenance of right. 4 judicial proceedings (was duly brought to justice; the Court of Justice). 5 a a magistrate. b a judge, esp. (in England) of the Supreme Court of Judicature. Phrases and idioms: do justice to treat fairly or appropriately; show due appreciation of. do oneself justice perform in a manner worthy of one's abilities. in justice to out of fairness to. Justice of the Peace an unpaid lay magistrate appointed to preserve the peace in a county, town, etc., hear minor cases, grant licenses, etc. Mr (or Mrs) Justice Brit. a form of address or reference to a Supreme Court Judge. with justice reasonably. Derivatives: justiceship n. (in sense 5). Etymology: ME f. OF f. L justitia (as JUST)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Justice Jus"tice, n. [F., fr. L. justitia, fr. justus just. See Just, a.] 1. The quality of being just; conformity to the principles of righteousness and rectitude in all things; strict performance of moral obligations; practical conformity to human or divine law; integrity in the dealings of men with each other; rectitude; equity; uprightness. Justice and judgment are the haditation of thy throne. -- Ps. ixxxix. 11. The king-becoming graces, As justice, verity, temperance, stableness, . . . I have no relish of them. -- Shak. 2. Conformity to truth and reality in expressing opinions and in conduct; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit; honesty; fidelity; impartiality; as, the justice of a description or of a judgment; historical justice. 3. The rendering to every one his due or right; just treatment; requital of desert; merited reward or punishment; that which is due to one's conduct or motives. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice To our own lips. -- Shak. 4. Agreeableness to right; equity; justness; as, the justice of a claim.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Justice Jus"tice, v. t. To administer justice to. [Obs.] --Bacon.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(justices) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. Justice is fairness in the way that people are treated. He has a good overall sense of justice and fairness... There is no justice in this world! 2. The justice of a cause, claim, or argument is its quality of being reasonable, fair, or right. We are a minority and must win people round to the justice of our cause. = legitimacy 3. Justice is the legal system that a country uses in order to deal with people who break the law. Many in Toronto's black community feel that the justice system does not treat them fairly... N-UNCOUNT: oft N n 4. A justice is a judge. (AM) Thomas will be sworn in today as a justice on the Supreme Court. N-COUNT 5. Justice is used before the names of judges. A preliminary hearing was due to start today before Mr Justice Hutchison, but was adjourned. N-TITLE 6. see also miscarriage of justice 7. If a criminal is brought to justice, he or she is punished for a crime by being arrested and tried in a court of law. They demanded that those responsible be brought to justice... PHRASE: V inflects 8. To do justice to a person or thing means to reproduce them accurately and show how good they are. The photograph I had seen didn't do her justice... PHRASE: V inflects 9. If you do justice to someone or something, you deal with them properly and completely. No one article can ever do justice to the topic of fraud... PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR to n 10. If you do yourself justice, you do something as well as you are capable of doing it. I don't think he could do himself justice playing for England... PHRASE: V inflects 11. If you describe someone's treatment or punishment as rough justice, you mean that it is not given according to the law. (BRIT) Trial by television makes for very rough justice indeed. PHRASE

Easton's Bible Dictionary

is rendering to every one that which is his due. It has been distinguished from equity in this respect, that while justice means merely the doing what positive law demands, equity means the doing of what is fair and right in every separate case.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jus'-tis (tsedhaqah; tsedheq; dikaiosune): The original Hebrew and Greek words are the same as those rendered "righteousness." This is the common rendering, and in about half the cases where we have "just" and "justice" in the King James Version, the American Standard Revised Version has changed to "righteous" and "righteousness." It must be constantly borne in mind that the two ideas are essentially the same.

See RIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. Human Justice:

Justice had primarily to do with conduct in relation to others, especially with regard to the rights of others. It is applied to business, where just weights and measures are demanded (Le 19:35,36; De 25:13-16; Am 8:5; Pr 11:1; 16:11; Eze 45:9,10). It is demanded in courts, where the rights of rich and poor, Israelite and sojourner, are equally to be regarded. Neither station nor bribe nor popular clamor shall influence judge or witness. "Justice, justice shalt thou follow" (De 16:20; compare De 16:18-20; Ex 23:1-3,6-9). In general this justice is contrasted with that wickedness which "feared not God, and regarded not man" (Lu 18:2).

In a larger sense justice is not only giving to others their rights, but involves the active duty of establishing their rights. So Israel waits upon God's justice or cries out: "The justice due to me (literally, "my justice") is passed away from my God" (Isa 40:27). Yahweh is to show her to be in the right as over against the nations. Justice here becomes mercy. To "seek justice" means to "relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isa 1:17; compare Isa 11:4; Jer 22:15,16; Ps 82:2-4). The same idea appears in De 24:12,13; Ps 37:21,26; 112:4-6, where the translation is "righteous" instead of "just."

In this conception of justice the full meaning of the New Testament is not yet reached. It does not mean sinlessness or moral perfection. Job knows the sin in his heart (Job 13:23,26; 7:21), and yet speaks of himself as a just or righteous man (12:4; 13:18). The Psalmist confidently depends upon the righteousness of God though he knows that no man is righteous in God's sight (Ps 143:1,2; compare Ps 7:8; 18:20-24). It is not a lack of humility or dependence upon God when the Psalmist asks to be judged according to his righteousness. In relation to God, the just, or righteous, man is the one who holds to God and trusts in Him (Ps 33:18-22). This is not the later Judaistic legalism with its merit and reward, where God's justice is simply a matter of giving each man what he has earned.

The word "justice" does not occur in the New Testament, and in most cases where we find "just" in the King James Version it is changed to "righteous" in the American Standard Revised Version. The idea of justice or righteousness (remembering that these are essentially the same) becomes more spiritual and ethical in the New Testament. It is a matter of character, and God's own spirit is the standard (1 Joh 3:7; Mt 5:48). The mere give-and-take justice is not enough. We are to be merciful, and that to all. The ideal is righteousness, not rights. As Holtzmann says, "The keynote of the Sermon on the Mount is justitia and not jus."

2. Justice of God:

God's justice, or righteousness, is founded in His essential nature. But, just as with man, it is not something abstract, but is seen in His relation to the world. It is His kingship establishing and maintaining the right. It appears as retributive justice, "that reaction of His holy will, as grounded in His eternal being, against evil wherever found." He cannot be indifferent to good and evil (Hab 1:13). The great prophets, Isaiah, Micah, Amos, Hosea, all insist upon Yahweh's demand for righteousness.

But this is not the main aspect of God's justice. Theology has been wont to set forth God's justice as the fundamental fact in His nature with which we must reconcile His mercy as best we may, the two being conceived as in conflict. As a matter of fact, the Scriptures most often conceive God's justice, or righteousness, as the action of His mercy. Just as with man justice means the relief of the oppressed and needy, so God's justice is His kingly power engaged on behalf of men, and justice and mercy are constantly joined together. He is "a just God and a Saviour" (Isa 45:21). "I bring near my righteousness (or "justice") .... and my salvation shall not tarry" (Isa 46:13; compare Ps 51:14; 103:17; 71:15; 116:5; Isa 51:5,6). The "righteous acts of Yahweh" mean His deeds of deliverance (Jud 5:11). And so Israel sings of the justice, or judgments, or righteousness of Yahweh (they are the same), and proclaims her trust in these (Ps 7:17; 35:23,24,28; 36:6; 140:12,13; 50:5,6; 94:14,15; 103:6; 143:1).

The New Testament, too, does not lack the idea of retributive justice. The Son of Man "shall render unto every man according to his deeds" (Mt 16:27; compare Mt 25:14-46; Lu 12:45-48; Ro 2:2-16; 6:23; 2Co 5:10; Col 3:24,25; 2Th 1:8,9; Heb 2:2,3; 10:26-31). But God's justice is far more than this. The idea of merit and reward is really superseded by a higher viewpoint in the teaching of Jesus. He speaks, indeed, of recompense, but it is the Father and not the judge that gives this (Mt 6:1,4,6,18). And it is no mere justice of earth, because the reward transcends all merit (Mt 24:46,47; Mr 10:30; Lu 12:37). This is grace not desert (Lu 17:10). And the parable of Mt 20:1-15 gives at length the deathblow to the whole Judaistic scheme of merit and reward.

And God's justice is not merely gracious, but redemptive. It not simply apportions rights, it establishes righteousness. Thus, just as in the Old Testament, the judge is the Saviour. The difference is simply here: in the Old Testament the salvation was more national and temporal, here it is personal and spiritual. But mercy is opposed to justice no more here than in the Old Testament. It is by the forgiveness of sins that God establishes righteousness, and this is the supreme task of justice. Thus it is that God is at the same time "just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus" (Ro 3:26). "He is faithful and righteous (or "just"; see the King James Version) to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Joh 1:9).

LITERATURE.

See Comm., and Biblical Theologies under "Justice" and "Righteousness," and especially Cremer, Biblical-Theol. Lex. of New Testament Greek

Harris Franklin Rall

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Equity, equitableness, right, justness, fairness, impartiality, fair play. 2. Judge, justiciary, justiciar.

Foolish Dictionary

Fair play; often sought, but seldom discovered, in company with Law.

Moby Thesaurus

Astraea, Dike, JP, Jupiter Fidius, Justice, Justitia, Minos, Nemesis, Rhadamanthus, Themis, actionability, applicability, arbiter, arbitrator, assured probity, balance, beak, bencher, blamelessness, blindfolded Justice, cardinal virtues, character, charity, cleanness, coequality, coextension, constitutional validity, constitutionalism, constitutionality, correspondence, court, critic, decency, detention, due process, dueness, entitledness, entitlement, equality, equation, equilibrium, equipoise, equipollence, equiponderance, equitableness, equity, equivalence, equivalency, erectness, estimableness, evenness, expectation, fair play, fair-mindedness, fairness, faith, fortitude, good character, goodness, high ideals, high principles, high-mindedness, his honor, his lordship, his worship, honesty, honor, honorableness, hope, identity, immaculacy, impartiality, imprisonment, incarceration, indicator, integrity, irreproachability, irreproachableness, judge, judger, judgment, judicatory, judicature, judicial process, judiciary, judiciousness, jurisdiction, justiciability, justifiable expectation, justness, law, lawfulness, legal form, legal process, legalism, legality, legitimacy, legitimateness, levelness, licitness, likeness, love, magistrate, meritedness, moderator, moral excellence, moral strength, morality, natural virtues, neutrality, nobility, objectiveness, objectivity, par, parallelism, parity, poise, principles, prison, probity, proportion, prudence, punishment, pureness, purity, rectitude, referee, reputability, respectability, right, righteousness, rightfulness, scope, stainlessness, supernatural virtues, symmetry, temperance, the courts, the law, theological virtues, umpire, unimpeachability, unimpeachableness, unspottedness, uprightness, upstandingness, validity, virtue, virtuousness, worthiness