Justice is what we as a society regard as “right” based on our moral concepts of ethics, rationality, law, religion, equity and fairness. Justice needs to be in the light of the democratic principle of the ‘rule of law’. The rule of law is a concept that denotes that all decisions need to be made in accordance with the law. Nobody is exempt from the law.
Respect for the rule of law is an important requirement to safeguard justice in a democracy. It ensures that all decisions and actions of individuals are in line with a country’s laws. It also ensures that people with power do not make decisions about our lives in an arbitrary and unpredictable manner, based on their personal hatred, prejudice or beliefs and not on what the law allows.
The rule of law protects us by ensuring that laws apply equally to all of us; that those who exercise government power do so guided by the law and not by their own views, and that no one has absolute power over our lives. The rule of law can only function properly when courts act in an independent, fair, public and transparent manner.
It is important that we citizens know our rights within the entire system of the rule of law, so we are able to uphold them, as well as detect failures and demand change.
After all, countries where the rule of law is upheld vigorously are often also the countries with the highest national prosperity, peace, liberty and freedom from corruption, and last but not least justice.
Justice is usually associated with the law. A judge is also known as a justice, and the point of the law is to keep everything in a society fair according to society’s rules. Justice (capital “J”) is also the statue of a blindfolded woman holding scales and a sword. If something is brought to justice, the good guys have been rewarded and the bad guys punished — the scales are even.