Justice is to be carried out by appointed judges and officials in an impartial fashion (Dt 16:18-20; 24:17; 1:16-17; Pr 18:5; Pr 24:23; Jn 7:24). It is for rich and poor alike: “You shall do no injustice in judgement. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty.” (Lev 19:15; also Ex 23:3, 6). Thus, there should be no “positive discrimination”. No account is taken of the standing of the offender or their own problems as a victim. Like the statue over the Old Bailey law courts in London, justice is blind.
The law provides a basis to enforce contracts between parties, which should be adhered to (Gal 3:15; Hos 10:4). The only exceptions are for clearly oppressive contracts; e.g. the Bible prohibits seizing the livelihood or basic belongings of a person as security for a debt (Dt 24:6, 12-13, 17).
The law provides protections from mis-treatment:
- for those at the bottom of the social order: female captives (Dt 21:10-14) and unloved wives (Dt 22:13-18); and
- for those who may lack family and community support structures: strangers, widows, and the fatherless (Dt 10:18; Dt 24:17; Dt 27:19; Ex 22:21).
Penalties (Ex 21:12 -22:15; Lev 20 etc.) relate to the offence and not the offender. They thus seem intended to: signal the severity of the offence; act as a deterrent; restore loss to the aggrieved party where possible (including from acts of negligence); and ensure that the offender could not benefit from their offence. Thieves had to restore several-fold (Ex 22:1-4). Modern approaches of “restorative justice” are similar but sometimes may focus on the offender’s situation.
Anglo-Saxon common law derives from OT principles of justice. It appears to be distinct from two modern trends: (i) increasingly to specify detailed duties in “black letter law”, which may over-ride specific contracts, rather than rely on more general duties and a test of “reasonableness in the circumstances”; and (ii) activist judgements where social opinion is taken into account in reaching a judgement (just as Pilate did in condemning Jesus - Lk 23:13-25).
* Judgement should focus on the offence, not the problems of the offender.
* Contracts should be enforced, unless clearly oppressive. Social activist approaches to judgement should be avoided.
* Justice is for all and should be impartial to rich and poor alike.
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