Laws and justice have been applied differently for hundreds and thousands of years, and often arbitrarily. Today, society tends to play things by the book, and the supremacy of law became the only constant that rhythms the modern society’s life. To put it in a nutshell, the judges and lawyers’ job is to simply apply the law as it is, even if it seems unfair.
Law between the strong and the weak
It can be seen as obvious that laws are needed for everyone’s good since it protects them all equally. But this is a very simplistic approach that should not be considered in these modern days since it has long been proved wrong. As platoon shows it in his book Gorgias that transcripts the ideals of Callicles who was a Greek political figure who defended the idea that laws only profit to the weak, who, according to what he claims, have made these laws out of interest. The weak would, so, prevent the strong from taking what is rightfully theirs only because they convinced them that doing so is morally wrong.
What is justice ?
As we already explained, justice is not the application of laws. According to what Platoon says, it is mostly because it has to take into consideration particular cases, and that a state may still be just without referring to the laws.
Justice, Law and interests : a vicious circle
The facts that people have different intelligence levels and morally diversified does not automatically mean that they should not be treated equally, nor, it would be ok for a certain elite to rule over the others. This would only make them tempted to use the law to serve their interests.
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