justice Hear it!

justice Definition

jus·tice (jus′tis)

noun

  1. the quality of being righteous; rectitude
  2. impartiality; fairness
  3. the quality of being right or correct
  4. sound reason; rightfulness; validity
  5. reward or penalty as deserved; just deserts
    1. the use of authority and power to uphold what is right, just, or lawful
    2. the personification of this, usually a blindfolded goddess holding scales and a sword
  7. the administration of law; procedure of a law court
    1. judge ()
    2. justice of the peace

Etymology: OFr < L justitia < justus: see just

justice Idioms

bring to justice

to cause (a wrongdoer) to be tried in court and duly punished

do justice to

  1. to treat fitly or fairly
  2. to treat with due appreciation; enjoy properly

do oneself justice

  1. to do something in a manner worthy of one's ability
  2. to be fair to oneself
justice Synonyms

justice

n.

  1. Fairness

    right, truth, equity; see fairness.

  2. Lawfulness

    legality, equity, rightfulness, prescriptive right, statutory right, established right, legitimacy, validity, sanction, legalization, constitutionality, authority, code, charter, creed, credo, decree, legitimization, rule, regularity, legal process, authorization; see also legality.

    Antonyms illegality, illegitimacy*, inequity. *

  3. The administration of law

    judicature, adjudication, equity, settlement, arbitration, hearing, legal process, the forms of the law, due process, judicial procedure, jury trial, trial by law, trial by jury, regulation, decision, pronouncement, review, appeal, sentence, consideration, rehearsing, pleading, taking evidence, litigation, prosecution, presentment; see also judgment 2, law 1, 2, trial 2.

    Antonyms lawlessness, disorder*, despotism. *

  4. A judge

    magistrate, justice of the peace, chancellor; see judge 1.

bring to justice

capture, try, exact punishment from; see arrest 1, punish.

do justice to

treat fairly, do right by, appreciate, esteem; see admire 1, respect 2, treat 1.

do oneself justice

be fair to oneself, give oneself credit, acquit oneself well; see justify 2, succeed 1.

justice Law Definition

n

The balanced and equitable administration of law.
justice Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • dispense: Indian agents became responsible for operating schools, dispensing justice, distributing supplies, administering allotments, and leasing contracts.
  • administer: The courts aim to administer justice as defined by the law.
  • do: The picture on the cover did justice to the old ship.
  • uphold: No bullying of the innocent is allowed and it is encouraged to take up the cudgels to uphold justice and truth.
  • obstruct: Obstructing an investigation is an offense, and covers altering, concealing or destroying documents, or attempting to obstruct justice.
  • seek: It gave normal people the ability to directly access the King, to seek justice or to make complaint.

Adjective modifier

  • restorative: The global appeal of restorative justice is truly startling.
  • criminal: By its nature, criminal justice is almost entirely negative.
  • distributive: Rawls, in contrast, argues that an egalitarian metric of distributive justice is uniquely appropriate in the domestic context.
  • social: Once social justice has been achieved, there is nothing more to talk about.
  • racial: They would have social peace at the expense of social and racial justice.
  • poetic: Poetic law has its place, as does poetic justice, but imprecise legal writing is poor legal writing.

Modifies a noun

  • system: Increase value for money from the criminal justice system by 3 % a year.
  • agency: Ministers have made it clear they wanted to see a much more strategic and 'joined up ' system of all the criminal justice agencies.

Noun used with modifier

  • youth: Further progress was also being made on speeding up youth justice.
  • trade: Now we're campaigning for trade justice, with new rules weighted in favor of the poor.
  • licensing: Licenses are granted by the local licensing justices or magistrates ' court.

Possessives

  • clerk: Back to top Where do justices ' clerks fit?

Preposition: in

  • eyre: Earlier on, they could also be made in the Exchequer and before justices in eyre.

Preposition: of

  • peace: Power of justice of the peace to grant warrant to enter certain places.
justice Quotes

I am sure that the immediate abolition of the slave trade is the first, the principal, the most indispensable act of policy, of dutyand of justice the legislature of this country has to take, if it is indeed their wish to secure those important objects† For we continue to this hour a barbarous traffic in slaves, we continue it even yet, in spite of all our great and undeniable pretensions as civilisation.

—Pitt,William known as  theYounger

This ain't the shop for justice.

—Dickens, CharlesJohn Huffam

   Whether we bringourenemiestojustice, orbring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

—Bush, GeorgeW(alker)

Two evilsögreed and factionöare the destruction of all justice.

—More, SirThomas

Die he or justice must.

—Milton,John

I have but one request to make at my departure from this world, it isöthe charity of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives, dare now vindicate them, let no prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them rest in obscurity and peace! Let my memory be left in oblivion, and my tomb remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justicetomycharacter.Whenmycountry takesher place among thenations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.

—Emmet, Robert

Patriotism inVietnamtook the communist road because it was the only one available. It had the appeal of a dream, a dream of social justice.

—Nguyen, Xuan Oanh

Equal and exact justice to all men†freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of the person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selectedöthese principles form the bright constellation that has gone before us.

—Jefferson,Thomas

I can answer for but three things: a firm belief in the justice of ourcause, close attention in the prosecution of it, and the strictest integrity.

—Washington, BookerTaliaferro

: A rape! a rape! : How! :Yes, you have ravished justice, Forced her to do your pleasure.

—Webster,John

It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tells me I ought to do.

—Burke, Edmund

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

—King, Martin LutherJr

   The feelings withwhichwe facethisnewage of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercyare reconciled, and the judge and the brother are one.

—Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow

Justice is being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing it.

—Butler, Samuel

Justice is doing one's work and not meddling with what isn't one's own.

—Plato

Justice is such a fine thing that we cannot pay too dearly for it.

—Le Sage, Alain Rene¤

Justice is superior to injustice. 655

—Plato

Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render to every one his due.

—Justinian I

To disarm the strong and arm the weak would be to change the social order which it's my job to preserve. Justice is the means by which established injustices are sanctioned.

—Thibault

Justice is truth in action.

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Ki qu'en plurt ne ki qu'en chant, le dreit estuet aler avant. Whether it makes one cry or sing, justice must be carried out.

—Maria¤ t egui,Jose¤   Carlos

To fight for the right, to abhor the imperfect, the unjust, or the mean, to swerve neither to the right hand nor the left, to care nothing for flattery or applause or odium or abuseöit is so easy to have any of them in Indiaönever to let your enthusiasm be soured or your courage grow dim but to remember that the Almighty has placed your hand on the greatest of his ploughs, in whose furrow the nations of the future are germinating and taking shape, to drive the blade a little forward in your time and to feel that somewhere among those millions you have left, a little justice, or happiness or prosperity, a sense of manliness or moral dignity, a springof patriotism, a dawn of intellectual enlightenmentora stirringofduty whereit did not exist beforeöthat is enough, that is the Englishman's justification in India.

—Curzon (of Kedleston), Lord George Nathaniel

Non enim rei effectus, sed efficientis affectus in crimine est. Nec qu× fiunt, sed quo animo fiunt, ×quitus pensat. Crime liesnot inthe deed, but inthe doer'sintention: it is not what was done, but the spirit in which it was done that justice should consider.

—He¤  lo|«  se

Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.

—Hewart, Gordon Hewart, Ist Viscount

'Justice'was done, and the President ofthe Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport withTess.

—Hardy,Thomas

   Fiat justitia et pereat mundus. Let justice be done, though the world may perish. SeeWatson 891:1.

—Ferdinand I

We must not regard political consequences, however formidable they may be. If rebellion was the certain consequence, we are bound to say,'Justitia fiat, ruat coelum' (Let Justice be done, though the skies may fall).' See Ferdinand I 320:1.

—Mansfield,William Murray, 1st Earl

   Fiat justitia et ruant coeli. Let justice be done, though the heavens may fall. See Ferdinand I 320:1.

—Watson,William