Justice And Social Justice

Justice and Social Justice By Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif © Copyright 2009 by Anthony J. Fejfar Justice functions at Law, based upon a Good Set of Rules, while Social Justice functions in Equity based upon Need. In an ideal Legal System, Law and Equity merge into the same Legal System. As Bernard Lonergan puts it, the world is just to complex to be adequately dealt with by a linear set of rules. Laws enacted by the legislature are basically a linear set of rules.

Equity, on the other hand, makes an Equitable Exception

from Law based upon Need. Equity intervenes when there is no adequate remedy at Law. There is no adequate remedy at law when there is an injustice at Law. A person knows that there is an injustice at Law based upon Intuition and Wisdom, and sometimes even reason. As Aristotle puts it, the lawgiver can only provide rules to deal with the general case, and the concrete world is more complex than the general case which the lawgiver attempts to deal with using a General or Classical Rule. In fact, when you look at the World, as Object, it is apparent that there are no real Classical natural laws, but only probable averages based upon statistical norms which are then generalized as Classical Laws, even though they are not. With experience, it becomes apparent that Equity often intervenes is a class of similar cases. When this happens, the Legal Rule must be given an Equitable Interpretation and reformed or changed to accommodate the Equitable Factor. Thus, we now have Fiduciary Duty Rules and the Unconscionability Doctrine in Law which are

basically Legal Rules, and no longer Equitable Maxims.

In a Just Legal System, Justice

incorporates Equity, and the need for the idea of Social Justice begins to evaporate.