Etymology : Middle English, from Old English and Old French; Old English justice, from Old French justice, from Latin justitia, from justus
Pronunciation : 'j&s-t&s
Function : noun
Date : 12th century
1. equality, rightness, fairness; support of what is good and right, righteousness; administration of the appropriate punishment or reward, retribution; judicature; judge, magistrate. justice\jus"tice\ , n. [f., fr. l. justitia, fr. justus just. see:
just, a.].
2. 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.
3. the king-becoming graces, as justice, verity, temperance, stableness, i have no relish of them. -- shak.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. agreeableness to right; equity; justness; as, the justice of a claim.
7. a person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice.note: this title is given to the judges of the common law courts in england and in the united states, and extends to judicial officers and magistrates of every grade.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Agreeableness to right; equity; justness; as, the justice of a claim.
12. A person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice.
13. To administer justice to. the administration of law; the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments; "justice deferred is justice denied" the quality of being just or fair.
14. 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!.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. A justice is a judge. Thomas will be sworn in today as a justice on the Supreme Court.
18. Justice is used before the names of judges. A preliminary hearing was due to start today before Mr Justice Hutchison, but was adjourned. see also:
miscarriage of justice.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. If you describe someone's treatment or punishment as rough justice, you mean that it is not given according to the law. Trial by television makes for very rough justice indeed. 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. chief justice European Court of Justice International Court of Justice justice of the peace.