DIMENSIONS OF JUSTICE : When the modern idea of justice is applied to the various aspects of social life, we get legal, political and social economic notions of Justice.
LEGAL JUSTICE : The term 'legal Justice' is broadly applied in two contexts : (a) 'justice according to law' (formal justice) - here we do not question the validity of law but focus on the principle of administration of justice according to the prevalent law; and (b) 'law according to justice' - here we examine the substance of law itself to ensure that it conforms to the requirements of justice.
This view represents an outstanding example of the concept of legal justice as 'justice according to law'. It does not question wheather a particular law itself is right or wrong, on the plea that there is no scientific way of such verification. A good law is known by its efficiency in attaining it's purpose, whatever that purpose may be. In this sence, the problem of justice has nothing to do with the purpose of law; it is solely concerned with the efficiency of law. Justice in totalitarian societies may be distorted not because of bad news, but because of the power given to judge to disregard fixed rules.
On the other hand, Ernest Barker, in his 'Principles of Social and Political Theory' (1951), has dwelled on the concept of legal justice as 'law according to justice'. Barker draws a distinction between 'positive law' and 'natural law' to show that law derives its validity and value from two different sources. positive law denotes a particular law - the law define and declared by each community for its own members. Other natural law is a universal law - a law founded on what is right-in-itself, on what is just everywhere and at all times, for all mankind, on what is valuable whether it is valid or not. Barker demonstrates that this distinction between the two aspects of law can be traced in the political theory of Aristotle, Roman jurisprudence as well as a Christian doctrine.
POLITICAL JUSTICE : The term 'Political Justice' is sometimes applied in a comprehensive sense so as to embrace the restructuring of the entire fabric of socio-economic and political relations. For instance, William Godwin, in his 'Essay on properly (1793), used the term 'political Justice' to denote a moral principle whose object was the 'general good' and which was especially invoked to evolve a genuine system of property. Otto Kirchheimer, in his Political Justice : The use of Legal Procedure for Political Ends ( 1961), conceived of 'political justice' as 'the the search for an ideal in which all members will communicate and internet with the body politic to assume its highest perfection'.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC JUSTICE : The term 'socio-economic justice' comprehends two important elements: 'social justice' and 'economic justice'. Their combination into 'socio-economic justice' is significant because social life of the community cannot be transformed according to the principle of justice unless its economic relations are suitably transformed. The term 'economic justice' may be used in the restricted sense of reordering human relations in the economic sphere, e.g. relations between employer and worker, between trader and consumer, between landlord and tenant, between money-lender and borrower, etc. So as to eliminate exploitation of the vulnerable sections of society. On the other hand, the term 'social justice' is used mor comprehensively so as to include economic justice and also to restore the dignity of human beings who have lost it due to a lower economic, educational and cultural status. In short it 62 to eradicate social discrimination at all levels.
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