law and justice Flashcards
What is justice?
- harmony between different sectors and classes
- people receive what they deserve
- serves the common goof for individuals and society
- serves the common good for individuals and society
- the law recognises different types of justice
How does the law achieve justice?
- fair trials
- accessible for all
- equality before the law
What is distributive justice?
- fair allocation of resources, benefits and burdens
- Aristotle: wealth distributed based on merit and hard work
- Marx: wealth distributed based on need and ability
What is procedural justice?
- fair legal processes for resolving disputes
- due process rights and fair trials
- legal aid exists, but is not accessible to all
What is restorative justice?
- repainting harm caused by crime
- focus on victim-offender mediation and community healing
What is corrective justice?
- compensating victims for harm suffered
- basis for tort law and civil remedies
What is social justice?
- addressing systemic inequalities
- basis for anti-discrimination laws and affirmative action
- John Rawls: fair laws in a hypothetical society where you dont know your status
Summarise Nozick’s theory of justice
- justice is based on individual rights and voluntary transactions
Three principles:
initial acquisitions - how property is first owned
transfer - how property is legitimately transferred - rectification - how to address historical injustices
What did Nozick advocate for?
a “night watchman state” with minimal government to:
- protect rights
- provide national defence
- enforce contracts
- prevent fraud and force
Summarise Rawl’s theory of justice
- proposed the “veil of ignorance” thought experiment
- advocated for redistributed policies to ensure fairness.
- supported progressive taxation and social welfare
- believed state intervention is necessary for justice
What is Nozick’s critique of Rawls?
- rejected redistribution, seeing it as a violation of individual rights
- argued individuals have an absolute right to their earnings
- viewed redistribution as a form of injustice
What is Formal Procedural Justice (criminal law)
- right to a fair & public trial
- presumption of innocence
- protection against self-incrimination
- right to legal representation
- jury of peers
What is formal procedural justice (tort law)
- access to civil courts for all
- legal aid available
- ADR
- impartial judges
What is formal procedural justice (contract law)
- clear offer and acceptance
- mutual consideration
- intent to create legal relations
- no duress or fraud
- impartial judges
- unfair contract terms applied uniformly
Summarise John Stuart Mill’s view on utilitarianism
- moral actions produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people
- developed the ‘Harm Principle’:
> individual liberty should be respected unless it harms others
What are the ethical decisions consider according to utilitarianism
- consider long term consequences
- evaluate quality of happiness not just quantity
- account for well-being of all affected
What is distributive justice (aristotle)
- social hierarchy is natural and just
- society has distinct classes with different roles
- those who contribute more should receive greater rewards
- economic distribution reflects individual and social virtues
What is distributive justice? (marx)
- criticised capitalist economic systems
- believed wealth should be distributed based on need, not just merit
“Each contributes according to ability and receives according to need” - argued capitalism creates artificial hierarchies
