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The Nature of Law

Law and justice: theories of justice

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 1

Overview

Aristotle, utilitarianism, Rawls, Nozick, Perelman and Marx on justice; formal, substantive and procedural justice; and how miscarriages of justice and legal aid cuts test the English legal system.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

What did Aristotle mean by distributive and corrective justice?

Key term

What is John Rawls' theory of justice?

Key term

What is Robert Nozick's entitlement theory of justice?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What did Aristotle mean by distributive and corrective justice?

    Model answer

    Distributive justice is the fair sharing of benefits and burdens according to merit or need; corrective justice restores the balance after a wrong, as when damages compensate a victim.

  2. 2

    What is the utilitarian view of justice?

    Model answer

    For Bentham and Mill a just law is one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number, though critics say this can justify sacrificing a minority's rights.

  3. 3

    What is John Rawls' theory of justice?

    Model answer

    In A Theory of Justice (1971) Rawls imagined choosing principles behind a 'veil of ignorance' about one's place in society: everyone gets equal basic liberties, and inequalities are just only if they benefit the least advantaged, the difference principle.

  4. 4

    What is Robert Nozick's entitlement theory of justice?

    Model answer

    In Anarchy, State and Utopia (1974) Nozick argued that holdings are just if acquired and transferred justly, so taxing people to redistribute wealth violates their rights.

  5. 5

    What is Chaïm Perelman's idea of formal justice?

    Model answer

    That beings in the same essential category must be treated in the same way, the principle that like cases are treated alike, which precedent and equality before the law put into effect.

  6. 6

    What is the Marxist view of law and justice?

    Model answer

    Law serves the interests of the ruling class, so formal equality hides real inequality, and true justice would follow the principle 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs'.

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