JUST COMPENSATION. See EMINENT DOMAIN.
The constant and perpetual dis position to render to every man his due. Jus tinian, Inst. b. 1, tit. 1; Co. 2d Inst. 56. The conformity of our actions and our will to the law. Toullier, Droit Civ. Fr. tit. prel. n. 5.
Commutative justice is that virtue whose object it is to render to every one what be longs to him, as nearly as may be, or that which governs contracts. To render commu tative justice, the judge must make an equal ity between the parties, that no one may be a gainer by another's loss.
Distributive justice is that virtue whose object it is to distribute rewards and pun ishments to each one according to his mer its, observing a just proportion by compar ing one person or fact with another, so that neither equal persons have unequal things nor unequal persons things equal. Tr. Eq. 3 ; and Toullier's learned note, Droit Civ. Fr. tit. prel. n. 7, note.
In the most extensive sense of the word it differs little from virtue; for it includes ' within itself the whole circle of virtues. Yet the common distinction between them is, that that which considered posi tively and in itself is called virtue, when ed relatively and with respect to others, has the name of justice. But justice, being in itself a part of virtue, is confined to things simply good or evil, and consists in a man's taking such a proportion of them as he ought.
Toullier exposes the want of utility and exactness in this division of distributive and commutative justice, adopted in the compendium or ahridgments of the ancient doctors, and prefers the divisions of internal and external first being a con formity of our will, and the latter a conformity of our actions, to the law, their union making per fect justice. Exterior justice le the object of juris prudence ; interior justice is the object of morality. Droit Civ. Fr. tit. prel. n. 6, 7.
According to the Frederician Code, part 1, hook 1, tit. 2, e. 27, justice consists simply in letting every one enjoy the rights which he has acquired in virtue of the laws. And, as this definition in
cludes all the other rules of right, there is prop erly but one single general rule of right, namely: Give every one his own.
Justice, in the language of Webster, "is the greatest interest of man on earth. It is the ligament which holds civilized nations to gether. Wherever her temple stands, and as long as it is duly honored, there is IC foundation for social security, general hap piness, and the improvelnent and the prog ress of our race. And whoever labors on this edifice with usefulness and distinction, who ever clears its foundations, strengthens its pillars, adorns its entablatures, or contrib utes to raise its august dome still higher in the skies, connects himself in name, and fame, and character, with that which is, and must be, as durable as the frame of human society." In Norman French. Amenable to justice. Kelham, Diet.
In Feudal Law. Feudal jurisdiction, divid ed into high (alts justitia), and low (sim plex inferior justitia), the former being a jurisdiction over matters of life and limb, the latter over smaller causes. Leg. Edw. Conf. c. 26; Du Cange. Sometimes high, low, and middle justice or jurisdiction were distinguished.
An assessment; Du Cange; also, a judi cial fine. Du Cange.
At Common Law. A title given in Eng land and America to judges of common-law courts, being a translation of justitia, which was anciently applied to common-law judges, while judex was applied to ecclesiastical judges and others ; e. g. judex ftscaLis. Leges Hen. I. §§ 24, 63; Anc. Laws & Inst. of Eng. Index ; Co. Litt. 71 b.
The judges of the federal and state su preme courts are properly styled "justices." "Justice of the High Court" is the title of judges of the High Court of Justice in the King's Bench and Probate, Divorde and Ad miralty Divisions.
The term justice is also applied to the ldwest judicial officers: e. g. a trial, justice; a justice of the peace.