Justice

The constant and perpetual ity of our actions and our will to the law.

Tou Uier, Dr. Civ. tit. prel. note 5.

In the most extensive sense of the word, it differs little from "virtue"; for it includes within itself the whole circle of virtues. Yet the common distinction between them is that which considered positively and in itself is called "virtue," when considered relatively and with respect to others has the name of "justice." But justice, being in itself a part of virtue, is confined to things simply good or evil, and consists in a man's taking such a proportion of them as he ought. Toullier exposes the want of utility and exactness in this division of distributive and commutative justice, adopted in the compendium or abridgments of the ancient doctors, and prefers the division of internal and external justice,— the first being a conformity of our will, and the latter a conformity of our actions, to the law, their union making perfect justice. Exterior justice is the object of jurisprudence; interior justice is the object of morality.

Dr. Civ. tit. prel. notes 6, 7.

According to the Frederician Code (part 1, bk. 1, tit. 2, § 27), justice consists simply in letting every one enjoy the rights which he has acquired in virtue of the laws. And, as this definition includes all the other rules of right, there is properly but one single general rule of right, namely, give every one his own. Commutative justice is that virtue whose object it is to render to every one what belongs to him, as nearly as may be, or that which governs contracts. To render commutative justice, the judge must make an equality between the parties, that no one may be a gainer by another's loss. Distributive justice is that virtue whose object it is to distribute rewards and punishments to each one according to his merits, observing a just proportion by comparing one person or fact with another, so that neither equal persons have unequal rights, nor unequal persons things equal. Toul- Her's learned note, Droit Civ. tit. prel. n.

7. note.

In Norman French. Amenable to justice.

Kelham.

In Feudal Law. Feudal jurisdiction, divided into high (alta justitia), and low (simplex, inferior justitia), the former being a jurisdiction over matters of life and limb; the latter over smaller causes. Leg. Edw. Conf. c. 26; Du Cange. Sometimes high, low, and middle justice or jurisdiction were distinguished. An assessment. Du Cange. Also, a judicial fine. Du Cange. In Practice. A title given in England and. America to judges of common-law courts, being a translation of justitia, which was anciently applied to common-law judges, while judex was applied to ecclesiastical judges and others; e. g., judex fisealis. Leg. The judges of king's bench and common pleas, and the judges of almost all the supreme courts in the United States, are properly styled "justices." "The term "justice" is also applied to the lowest judicial officers; e. g., a trial justice; a justice of the peace.