Justice

Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the
interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with
many differing viewpoints and perspectives, including the concepts of moral correctness based
on ethics, rationality, law, religion, equity and fairness. The state will sometimes endeavour to
increase justice by operating courts and enforcing their rulings.
Consequently, the application of justice differs in every culture. Early theories of justice were set out
by the Ancient Greek philosophers Plato in his work The Republic, and Aristotle in his Nicomachean
Ethics. Throughout history various theories have been established. Advocates of divine command
theory have said that justice issues from God. In the 1600s, philosophers such as John Locke said
that justice derives from natural law. Social contract theory said that justice is derived from the
mutual agreement of everyone. In the 1800s, utilitarian philosophers such as John Stuart Mill said
that justice is based on the best outcomes for the greatest number of people. Theories of distributive
justice study what is to be distributed, between whom they are to be distributed, and what is
the proper distribution. Egalitarians have said that justice can only exist within the coordinates of
equality. John Rawls used a social contract theory to say that justice, and especially distributive
justice, is a form of fairness. Robert Nozick and others said that property rights, also within the realm
of distributive justice and natural law, maximizes the overall wealth of an economic system. Theories
of retributive justice say that wrongdoing should be punished to ensure justice. The closely
related restorative justice (also sometimes called "reparative justice") is an approach to justice that
focuses on the needs of victims and offenders.