Sir, I say that justice is truth in action

Benjamin Disraeli

We don’t apply the demand for justice when it works against us.  This is illustrated by Orual in C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces. 

Orual, who spent a lifetime building her case against the gods, meticulously describes each instance where she has been wronged, and demands to be heard by the gods for the sake of justice.  But after she has finally had her chance to formally state her case before the gods themselves, she is stunned to hear that it is now her turn to face her judges. 

"My judges?" she asks.

"Why, yes, child.  The gods have been accused by you.  Now's their turn."

"I cannot hope for mercy," she laments to the one beside her. 

"Infinite hopes—and fears—may both be yours," he replies. "Be sure that, whatever else you get, you will not get justice."

"Are the gods not just?" she asks.

"Oh no, child.  What would become of us if they were?"

Our strong sense of justice is not misguided.  But justice demands that it will apply to us as thoroughly as we apply it to others. 

View Article

Democracy is a process by which people are free to choose the man who will get the blame

Laurence J. Peter

Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice

Lyn Yutang