Law and Justice Essay Sample

LAW ANDJUSTICE

\"People would not know the name of Justice, if unjust things did not exist\" (Heraclitus, cited by Murray, 1889)Justice and injustice are the greatest dualism. Neither justicenor injustice is the same for all people and all cultures. Namely,what is justice for ones, may be punishable for others. Thehibernating human nature from the earliest times requiredorganization of society by canons, laws, tribal rules, written andunspoken. The Old Testament is based on laws that prescribevery strict norms in behavior and everyday life. To respect thislaw and such a life lies in this law righteousness (eye for eye,tooth for tooth), but in the present time we can not recognizesuch justice. In many cultures, justice was sought andsanctioned by \"blood vengeance\", therefore not by law. Why?Does this mean that the justice is in the blood revenge, andthat the law is unjust? Or, it means that one are looking forjustice by blood revenge, and other the laws. If we are lookingfor justice in the laws, then it is important who and how putsthese laws into effect.The Supreme Law is a Constitution. The Constitution is aguarantee of human freedom and a reflection of the will of thepeople. The coexistence of the creation of the state and of thelaw, the creation of a state-right order necessarily implies theexistence of some mandatory rules that constitute the basisupon which both the state and the right are built; Theconstitution in the formal sense is a written act of the greatestlegal force regulating the basis of state and social organizationof one country.

There is not only political power to adopt the constitution, butthe spirit of the nation, its perception of morals, customs,habits , public opinion. There is a difference between theconstitution that brings people, and the government cannotchange, and the constitution that brings the people, and thegovernment can change. This is the difference betweenconstitutional and legislative power. It is constitutionallyconstitutive and legally constituted. So the state has to giveauthority to manage it, to keep it, but it is a question to whoas it would not be subject to abuse.Plato considered that the state should be governed byrulers-philosophers, because philosophical education hasdeveloped their sense of reason. The ruler, can not be aruler before his fiftieth year of life. Plato seeks to theoreticallyestablish a just state. A just state would be the one in whicheach would have its own place of work. This division of worktowards Plato is based on his ontology and psychology. Ajust state can only be the one who in some way realizes theidea of righteousness. A well-organized state must be asclose to the conceptual empire. It is clear from this that sucha state must be led by philosophers, for they are the onlyones capable of acquiring knowledge of the world of ideasand knowing what is right and what is not.

Philosophers can only become those who possess themental part of the soul, capable of maintaining in harmonythe other two parts of the soul, feeling and rationality, and tobe governed by them. Those who have developed only areasonable part of the soul, who are therefore not capable ofphilosophical knowledge, but are reasonable and heartfelt,their virtue is courage and should be the guardians of thestate (Hsu, 2007).Socrates, like Platon, elaborated the whole ideal state plan(ideal in terms of righteousness). His ideal state would begovern by the best people, so it would be aristocratic. Platopoints out that people and their characters are the ones thatmake up the state. Even states can be: timocratic,democratic, oligarchical, tyrannical ... \"Every government,make the laws in its favor: the democracy of the democratic,the tyrant gives monarchical laws, and so are the otherauthorities\" (Plato, cited by Jowett, 2008).ReferencesHsum H. (2007). The Harmony of the Soul. HumanitasTaiwanica, 67, 139-159.Jowett, B. (2008). The Republic. Kansas: DigireadsPublishing.Patrick, G. T. W. (1889). The Fragments of the Work ofHeraclitus of Ephesus on Nature; Translated from the GreekText of Bywater, with an Introduction Historical and Critical,Toronto: Baltimore N. Murray.