What is Justice?
From my point of view, justice is nothing but being fair. Okay, what is justice from a law point of view?-Being justified. But what is being justified? It is the process of using laws to judge and punish crimes and criminals fairly.
What is a theory of justice?
John Rawls, a political philosopher and an American moral, wrote A Theory of Justice in 1971. It tried to address the issue of societal distributive fairness. Traditional philosophical arguments on what defines a fair institution and the basis for social acts and policies were rejected by Rawls.
The utilitarian argument states that society should seek the greatest good for the most significant number of people, which aligns with the tyranny of the majority over the minority. According to John Rawls, justice is defined as fairness, and social justice is the primary feature of social organizations.
Rawls is a moral and political philosopher from the United States who wrote A Theory of Justice in 1971, “Political Liberalism” in 1993, and Justice as Fairness: A Restatement in 2002, among other works. He’s been dubbed the twentieth century’s most influential ethical and political philosopher. For his academic and political spaces contributions, then-US President Bill Clinton awarded Rawls the National Humanities Medal in 1999.
ORIGINAL POSITION :
When he established the Principles of Justice theory, Rawls introduced the Original Position as an artificial artifice. The invention established a hypothetical circumstance in which population members can reach a contractual agreement on resource distribution without one side seeming to be better off than the other.
Behind a veil of ignorance, the thought experiment would establish the desired condition of affairs among members of the population. The veil was a situation where people were blinded to their traits, such as age, race, sex, and economic level, typically leading to bias. Individuals might align the principle of advantage.
The Two Justice Principles:
When divided by the veil of ignorance, John Rawls proposed two principles of justice that self-interested and rational persons might pick. The following are the guiding principles:
Equal Liberty Principle
The first concept of justice to emerge from the initial stance is the principle of equal liberty. According to Rawls, it asserts that all citizens have an equal right to essential freedoms, which include freedom of conscience, speech, association, and democratic rights. According to Rawls, personal property is one of the fundamental rights that individuals should enjoy and that the government cannot violate or modify. However, he did not include an absolute right to limitless personal property as part of the fundamental rights that individuals should enjoy.
Principle of Equality:
According to the equality principle, economic concepts should be organized so that they satisfy two conditions. The poorest members of society should be given more advantages. Second, economic disparities should be structured such that no person, regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic background, is barred from holding any job or office. Rawls stated that everyone in society should be afforded the same opportunities and chances as everyone else of equivalent natural aptitude.
Types of Justice:
Social Justice:
The state is restricted from discriminating against citizens based on their birth, caste, race, creed, sex, faith, title or position, or any combination of these factors. Apartheid and untouchability are antithetical to the spirit of social justice. The lack of favored social classes is a crucial feature of social justice.
Several articles of the Indian Constitution are aimed at ensuring social, economic, and political fairness. Untouchability has been declared illegal under the law. Every citizen has the right to obtain any public venue, an institution of religion, or place of amusement on an equal basis.
According to social democrats and modern liberal philosophers, social justice endeavors to reconstruct the social order in line with moral ideals. Attempts to correct social injustice must be made constantly. It also stands for a morally good and justifiable system of societal reward and duty distribution free of prejudice or injustice towards any individual or group of individuals.
Economic Justice
Economic Justice and Social Justice are interlinked since the economic system is always a part of the social system. Individual economic rights and possibilities are always a part of the larger social structure. Economic Justice requires that all citizens have enough chances to make a living and get fair pay, allowing them to meet their fundamental requirements and aiding their development.
The government should provide them with financial stability during illness, old age, and incapacity.No individual, group, or class should be able to exploit others or be exploited. The distribution of money and resources should be fair and equitable among all individuals. Everybody must share the benefits of wealth.
There are numerous different perspectives on what economic justice entails. Liberals believe that open competition is fair and that private property is valuable. Socialists want to take total control of society and the whole financial system. They reject the ownership of personal property. Whatever philosophy or approach is in place, one thing is sure: all citizens must have access to fundamental essentials of existence.
Political Justice
Political Justice entails providing all citizens with equal political rights and participating in the country’s government. Citizens should vote without fear of discrimination based on religion, color, caste, creed, sex, birthplace, or social position. * Each person should have the same opportunity to vote and run for office.
The drafting of just laws and then doing justice under the rules are two aspects of legal justice. The rulers’ will should not be forced on the ruling while creating legislation. Public opinion and public needs should guide legislation. Social values, morals, customs, and the concept of right and wrong must all be kept in mind at all times.
The term legal justice refers to the rule of law, not the rule of any individual. It conveys that all persons are equal before the law and that the law applies equally to all. It ensures that the law protects everyone. The law makes no distinction between the wealthy and the needy. The objective and proper administration of justice by courts of law is a necessary component of legal justice.
When social and economic disparities exist, political and equitable justice is constantly denied. An oppressed and impoverished individual can practically not engage in the political process or seek legal protection from the courts.
Constitution of India and theory of justice:
India’s survival as a nation is contingent on how we, the people, carry out the provisions of our Constitution. Because the law of the Constitution is not only for those who governor for the intellectual and scholarly-but also for the majority of the people, especially for the common man, for whose benefit and safeguard the document of governance has been written and enacted, all citizens should take a closer look at it and understand its broader features. The public is impacted by the opinions and statements of the country’s highest court justices. Under a written constitution, the judiciary’s power should never be underestimated.
The Indian Constitution is based on the distributive justice idea. According to distributive justice, “the method established by legislation must not only have an appearance of attribution, but it must have meaning according to evolving societal ideals and human fairness in actuality and practice.” Based on social needs and societal context, our Constitution offers Justice, i.e., Social Justice, Legal Justice, and Economic justice.
Article 21 ensures that the state will not deprive anybody of their life or personal liberty unless they follow the legal procedure. This article’s proposed process must be equitable, fair, and reasonable. The legal method must resemble these attributes in appearance, but it must also have actuality and practice according to evolving societal ideals and human fairness.
Is the concept of justice considered a valid topic of logical inquiry, deserving of jurisprudential philosophers and social scientists’ sustained attention?
According to Aristotle, distributive justice is that each community member should be given an equal opportunity. Inherent potentials. In the distribution of such material resources, all people should have equal consideration and chances.
The Indian Constitution is founded on the idea of equality and is based on the rule of law. A similar theory was articulated in Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan, which stated that no adequate philosophy of justice could be developed without finding a place for equality and freedom in the system of societal structure. The Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal. The only way to free women from harassment and exploitation is to empower them to develop and flourish in a comfortable environment.
Case law:
Vishakha Vs. State of Rajasthan
Facts: Bhanwari Devi worked as a social worker run by the Rajasthan state government to scourge child marriage. Bhanwari Devi did her most challenging to prevent child marriage in one of Ramakant Gujjar’s homes during the protest. Despite significant opposition, the wedding was effective in its conclusion. Ramakant and his five men gang-raped her in front of her husband in 1992. The police department attempted to dissuade them from pursuing the case on various grounds, but she filed a complaint against the accused.
They were, however, exposed to harsh treatment by female police attendants, to the point that her lehenga was demanded from her to get proof, and she was left with nothing except her husband’s blood-stained dhoti. Their plea to spend a night at the police station was also denied, adding to their anguish.
The trial court acquitted, but she never lost hope, and all-female social workers rallied to her side, witnessing her resolve. Under the name ‘Vishakha,’ they all filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court was asked to draught rules for avoiding workplace sexual harassment.
Conclusion:
It is pointless to associate the Indian Constitution with a single justice philosophy because it synthesizes all legal ideas. The Constitution is an ideal that requires practical efforts in social, individual, legal, economic, and overall growth.
When we talk about the Constitution, we often talk about justice because it is essential not only for the attainment of development but also for the attainment of peace, security, and the dignity of the individual; justice matters because it gives a person an identity; the unlock space for openness to LGBT issues, leading to a certain legitimacy to demand more positive rights such as anti-discriminatory measures and socioeconomic benefits.
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