All cultures and traditions have grappled with question of justice although they may have interpreted the concept in different ways. For instance, in ancient Indian society, justice was associated with dharma and maintaining dharma or a just social order was considered to be primary duty of kings. In China, Confucius, the famous philosopher argued that kings should maintain justice by punishing wrong doers and rewarding the virtuous. In fourth century B.C. Athens (Greece), Plato discussed issue of justice in his book ‘The republic’. Through a long dialogue between Socrates and his young friends, the young people asked why we should be just. They observed that people who were unjust seemed to be much better than those who were just. Those who twisted rules to serve their interest , avoided paying taxes and were willing to lie and be deceitful, were often more successful than those who were truthful and just. If one were smart enough to avoid being unjust is better than being just. You may have heard people expressing similar sentiments even today.
If everyone were to be unjust, if everybody manipulated rules to suit their own interests, no one could be sure of benefiting from injustice. Nobody would be secure and this is likely to harm all of them.
Equality
Although there might be broad agreement in modern society about the equal importance of all people, it is not simple matter to decide how to give each person his/her due. A number of different principles have been put forward in this regard. One of the principles of treating equals equally. It is considered that all individual share certain characteristics as human beings. Therefore they deserve equal rights and equal treatment. Dr B.R. Ambedkar on social justice, “A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the certain of a compassionate society”
The idea that justice involves giving each person his due continues to be an important part of our present day understanding of justice.
