Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The quality of being just; fairness.
- noun The principle of moral rightness; decency.
- noun Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness.
- noun The attainment of what is just, especially that which is fair, moral, right, merited, or in accordance with law.
- noun Law The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
- noun The administration, system, methods, or procedures of law.
- noun Conformity to truth, fact, or sound reason.
- noun Law A judge on the highest court of a government, such as a judge on the US Supreme Court.
- idiom (do justice to) To treat adequately, fairly, or with full appreciation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Justness; the quality of being just; just conduct.
- noun Vindication of right; requital of desert; the assignment of merited reward or punishment; specifically, execution or vindication of law.
- noun Rights of jurisdiction.
- noun Jurisdiction; authority.
- noun Precision; justness; exactness.
- noun A person commissioned to hold court for the purpose of hearing complaints, trying and deciding cases, and administering justice; a judge or magistrate: generally in specific uses: as, a justice of the peace; the justices of the Supreme Court.
- noun Synonyms Right, Justice, Equity, Law; Justness, Justice. Right is the standard word for what ought to be. Justice and equity are essentially the same, expressing the working out of the principles of right under law, but law often contrary to justice or equity: hence the occasional remark, “That may be law, but it is not justice.” Law in such a case means the interpretation of written law by the courts. A court of equity deals with and corrects the injustice of the working of the law. Equity more expressively represents the idea of fairness, and justice that of sacred rights. (See
just and honesty.) Justness has a field of meaning peculiar to itself, by which we speak of the justness of observations, criticisms, etc.—that is, their conformity to admitted principles. As to conformity to right, we use justice for the abstract quality, justice of the person, and justness of the thing. We speak of the justness of a cause, a claim, a plea, etc. - To administer justice to; deal with judicially; judge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To administer justice to.
- noun 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.
- noun Conformity to truth and reality in expressing opinions and in conduct; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit; honesty; fidelity; impartiality
- noun 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.
- noun Agreeableness to right; equity; justness.
- noun A person duly commissioned to hold courts, or to try and decide controversies and administer justice.
- noun See under
Bed . - noun See in the Vocabulary.
- noun (Law) a judicial officer or subordinate magistrate appointed for the conservation of the peace in a specified district, with other incidental powers specified in his commission. In the United States a justice of the peace has jurisdiction to adjudicate certain minor cases, commit offenders, officiate at marriages, etc.; abbreviated JP.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The state or characteristic of being
just orfair . - noun The ideal of
fairness ,impartiality , etc., especially with regard to thepunishment ofwrongdoing . - noun
Judgment and punishment of a party who hasallegedly wronged (an)other(s). - noun The
civil power dealing withlaw . - noun A
judge of certaincourts . Alsocapitalized as a title. - noun
Correctness ,conforming to reality or rules.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments
- noun the quality of being just or fair
- noun a public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court of justice
- noun the United States federal department responsible for enforcing federal laws (including the enforcement of all civil rights legislation); created in 1870
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Callicles 'contempt for justice as normally understood turns out to involve four main ingredients: a critique of conventional justice, an account of ˜justice according to nature™, a theory of the virtues, and a hedonistic conception of the good.
Callicles and Thrasymachus Barney, Rachel 2004
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'Clapp, you can go,' said the Captain; and Mr. Numbers Clapp lost no time in conveying himself from the dangerous vicinity of justice; though such _justice_ as we here record, was not very dangerous to _him_.
City Crimes or Life in New York and Boston George Thompson
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To particular justice belongs _justice of exchange, _ which he describes as "the habit of observing equality in commutations."
Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province Aquinas Thomas
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It was not Toms practice to tell, but here justice clearly demanded that Maggie should be visited with the utmost punishment; not that Tom had learned to put his views in that abstract form; he never mentioned justice, and had no idea that his desire to punish might be called by that fine name.
X. Maggie Behaves Worse Than She Expected. Book I—Boy and Girl 1917
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And this is also to be gathered out of the ordinary definition of justice in the schools; for they say that justice is the constant will of giving to every man his own.
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Again, my heart pleaded for justice and mercy; for _justice_ to all; and for _mercy_ to the needy and helpless.
Modern Skepticism: A Journey Through the Land of Doubt and Back Again A Life Story Joseph Barker 1840
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Another pause followed -- a longer one -- when he said in a tone quite low, "_General St. Clair shall have justice; I looked hastily through the dispatches, saw the whole disaster but not all the particulars; I will receive him without displeasure; I will hear him without prejudice; he shall have full justice_."
Washington in Domestic Life Richard Rush 1819
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That sense of justice which guides every party in our just Austrian land, does not entirely exclude her either; at the same time, this _very same sense of justice_ must render all her remonstrances unavailing.
Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826, Volume 2 Ludwig van Beethoven 1798
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a distinct proposal now that the thief and the justice shall change places on the spot -- with the inquiry as to which is _the justice_, and which is the _thief_, openly started -- one would almost fancy that the subject had been exhausted here, or would be, if these indications should be followed up.
The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded Delia Bacon 1835
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Union, establish justice, "-- yes, Sir, _establish justice_ --" to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. "
oroboros commented on the word justice
A simple farmer was walking along the road, his trusty donkey trailing behind. As he rounded a sharp bend in the trail a figure leaped out of the bushes behind him, and struck him a mighty blow to the head. When the poor farmer regained consciousness, he discovered his faithful donkey gone. He ran up the road and down the road searching and calling to the beast, but to no avail.
Presently he came to a river, where he saw a man standing on the bank, wringing his hands and sobbing. Although the farmer did not recognize him, the man was the very assailant that had struck him and stolen his donkey. The farmer asked why he was so upset, and the thief replied, "I have dropped my purse, containing five hundred silver coins, into this dangerous stream. If you would jump in and retrieve it for me I will gladly give you half of its contents as your reward."
The farmer thought to himself, "Praise be. When bad luck strikes, good luck must surely be close behind. The silver coins are worth much more than my lost donkey. Justice will prevail on this glorious day."
So, he stripped himself and plunged into the cold waters, and the thief ran off with his clothes. --"Magnus Machina" by Jan Cox p.124
January 17, 2008
sionnach commented on the word justice
Bueno, oroboros, por favor. Di nos, que paso con el burro? Estas torturandonos.
January 17, 2008
oroboros commented on the word justice
El burro fue al mercado, por supuesto!
January 19, 2008
lampbane commented on the word justice
"Tipping the scales at almost 300 pounds of power and with 20-inch guns at his disposal, Justice does indeed have a very long arm, and he'll pursue any adversary to the ends of the earth to prove it. Ask any of his opponents and they'll tell you that sometimes Justice hurts, and the scales always tip in his favor."
(Official biography on the NBC American Gladiators website)
September 6, 2008
zaggan commented on the word justice
here comes Justice!!!
May 26, 2009
ethnofinancecologist commented on the word justice
When good citizens seek justice, they are looking for a fair adjudication of affairs such that honest people striving to do the right thing (whether in a Kantian a priori fashion or otherwise) shall receive the benefits of their actions and their diametrically opposed actors of an evil bent shall receive substantive comeuppance. In TaxVampirespeke, justice has come to mean any way a politician or a politician's friend can stick it to the downtrodden or - better yet from an asset grabbing perspective - the financially blessed but politically impotent.
May 27, 2010