Law vs. Justice

This concluding chapter looks at the concepts of law and justice. There are two concepts of law: law as principle and law as rule or regularity. The former is normative, while the latter is descriptive. The chapter then considers the concept of justice. In the philosophical theory of justice, one must distinguish among relevant areas of private and criminal law. Retributive justice applies in criminal law, corrective justice in torts, and distributive justice in property law. In all of these areas, the claims of justice face challenges from utilitarian and economic considerations and based on efficiency, for example, deterrence in criminal law, searching for the cheapest cost avoider in tort law, and stability in property law.