As we need her around all hale and hearty
Child of myth, magic and folklore, no other concept in the history of mankind has stirred more debate and caused more headaches than justice
Blind, wielding a sword in one hand and holding a set of scales in the other, is how justice is personified as a lady all over the world. Egyptians, Greeks, Europeans and other cultures revered this image of a fair damsel who weighs matters brought before her without fear or favour, pays no heed to whether a party to a contention is a mighty ‘invincible’ individual or a penniless beggar, and mete out befitting punishment to the one who transgressed while giving justice to the wronged.
Justice, dearest sirs and ma’ams, has a long, eventful past and it hasn’t aged gracefully. In the beginning, all that was expected of her was to punish the wrongdoer in kind. In times of kings and pharaohs, it went into exile and was replaced by revenge and/or mercy (depending on what end one found oneself). The mood swings of those in power primarily defined who’ll be spared and who’ll head to the gallows.
Child of myth, magic and folklore, no other concept in the history of mankind has stirred more debate and caused more headaches than justice. Fates of countless men, entire kingdoms, and many civilisations perished because they relegated the esteemed lady to bottomless pits. Many others prospered as they revered her, followed her dicta and knew that under her shadow they could tread on the road that leads to the palace where ‘greater good of all’ is the norm, not a mirage or illusion.
Now, I’ll dare to startle you with a revelation few are privy to. Ready? There you go; Lady Justice, in her youth, married a tall, dark, handsome Mr Law who valued strict discipline, uniformity of procedure, ages old precedents, restraint and, above all, order more than anything.
Mr Law, who boasted of an entitled, privileged pedigree, was averse to emotional antics of pleaders, empty assumptions and grandiose presumptions, incessant pettifogging of black coats and anything and everything that didn’t fit his ‘grand, tidy scheme of things’.
God blessed Mr Law and Lady Justice with many children, namely: Master Precedent, Madam Jurisprudence, Master Judicial Acumen, Madam Citations, Master Procedure, Madam Process of Court, Mr Rules, Mr Regulations, Madam Contempt, Madam Decorum, Mr Sanctity, Madam Robes and Mr Gavels. One big happy family of immortal abstractions overseeing the affairs of mortal men in their countless mansions called the Honorable Court.
Okay, enough with personifications and metaphors. Back to the cold, hard world of existence. Law and Justice, dearest sirs and ma’ams, are entwined and braided together in such a manner that when you separate one from the other, you banish the survivor to a life of widowhood.
Our world has outgrown and outfoxed truth. Now, dearest sirs and ma’ams, if it ain’t Justice ye like, add the prefix ‘technical’ to it
Remember the story of Jesus saving an adulteress’ life by revealing the sinner in each and every one of us? In our times, where our sins are ‘shortcomings of minor nature’, ‘personal matters’ and ‘minor imperfections’ while same in others are ‘forbidden vices’, ‘acts against nature’ and ‘heinous crimes’, justice can be summed up in an aphoristic line by Samuel Johnson: ‘Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so’. No pun intended or innuendo aimed at a certain Mr K whose hankering after justice has become a brand for the frustrated and ambitious alike.
Mr K and his cult of morally upright and honest men of integrity have decided that if the Court doesn’t go their way, they’ll take the highway. Once again, the righteous soldiers riding their humble, eco-friendly Range Rovers, tuckered out Land Cruisers, GLIs, Civics, Mehrans, and battered down motorbikes will follow Mr K’s container on a truck from city to city.
Our world has outgrown and outfoxed truth. Now, dearest sirs and ma’ams, if it ain’t Justice ye like, add the prefix ‘technical’ to it. As most of your viewers have no appetite for anything as pure and celestial as ‘truth’ clubbed together with ‘technical’ — a term that is foul and mechanical, to say the least.
And if ye are denied Justice you dreamt of, add ‘miscarriage’ before it. As then, the term will not only put in the fear of the Almighty in hearts and minds of general populace but also sketch a gory picture of loss.
Once again, due to lack of a better conclusion or summation, I bid you farewell with words of a maverick, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe,” Frederick Douglass, an American abolitionist and statesman.
PS: For those curious souls who really, even desperately, want to know a brief, concise, to-the-point definition of justice. Well, Black’s Law Dictionary is the place you’ll find it. According to BLD, justice is ‘The fair and just administration of law.’ Dear reader, we’ll post mortem the words ‘fair’, ‘just’, ‘administration’ and ‘law’ next week. So, wait till then, see you.
