Legal Justice and two specific meanings

LEGAL JUSTICE :

Legal justice is categorized as one among the various kinds of justice such as natural, political, social economic, administrative, distributive, and corrective justice. Legal justice is related to the law making process and the judicial system of society. It has two specific meanings.

1.     Law should be reasonable,

2.     Each one should get justice according to law.

1. Law should be reasonable :

Legislature is the law making body of the state. The laws made by the legislature should be rational and reasonable. Laws should be equal of all and there should not be any unreasonable, and unjustifiable discriminations, since the sole purpose of law was the well being of the whole community, these should be equal for equals and unequal for unequals.

Often laws are made to deal with outmoded social customs. Sometimes laws are made to fight against those reactionary, inhuman religious and social practices which hinder social development. These laws are not generally accepted by conservative forces and vested interests and are opposed by them. But this does not affect the rationality of the laws. If the laws must be rational and just, the law making institutions should be rational and just. In modern times it is well accepted that the right to make laws should be vested only with the representatives of the people. This is one of the features of democracy. In many liberal democracies, the independent and impartial judiciary is authorized to look into the justifiability of the laws made by legislatures. The judiciary is regarded as the watchdog of the constitution and the protector of rights. In such democracies often, the legislature and judiciary get into conflict with each other which may lead to a deadlock, hampering good governance, for which the legislature and judiciary exist in any democracy.

2. Each one should get justice according to law :

This implies that each one should be able to have impartial justice from the jusdicial system. It means equal protection of law. There are two requirements for equal protection of law. Firstly judicial process should be simple and it should not be costly. For a poor man, it is cheaper to suffer injustice than to have justice through the judicial process. This should be removed and every man should be ensured justice in the most viable way. Secondly the other requirement of justice through the courts is that the courts should be independent and impartial.

The executive should not have control over the judiciary. The theory of separation of powers is intended to maintain the independence of the judiciary. For the impartiality of the judiciary, the pay, service conditions and the qualifications of judges should be proper, so that they may decide cases without any pulls, pressures or strains.