Law and justice: the idea of justice, natural justice and the administration of civil and criminal justice
LUG-102 Jurisprudence — Legal Method, Indian Legal System and Basic Theory of Law, Unit I: Law and justice. · LLB · 60 min
The first of the syllabus's "linkages between jurisprudence and other sciences" (topic 1): what justice means (Aristotle's distributive and corrective justice, Rawls, Amartya Sen), justice according to law against natural justice, why the State administers justice (Salmond), the difference between civil and criminal justice, and the purpose of criminal justice through the five theories of punishment with the Indian sentencing cases, s. 4 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the contrast between punishment and compensation. The 2024-25 paper asked for the purpose of criminal justice through the theories of punishment; 2018-19 asked for a note on the reformative theory.
Objectives
- Explain what justice means and distinguish Aristotle's distributive and corrective justice, Rawls's justice as fairness and Sen's comparative approach.
- Distinguish justice according to law from natural justice and state the two principles of natural justice with their Indian constitutional basis.
- Explain why and how the State administers justice and distinguish civil from criminal justice.
- Apply the deterrent, retributive, preventive, reformative and expiatory theories of punishment to Indian sentencing law and cases.
Slides
- What is justice?
- Aristotle: distributive and corrective justice
- Modern theories: Bentham, Rawls and Sen
- Justice according to law and natural justice
- Why the State administers justice (Salmond)
- Civil and criminal justice
- The purpose of criminal justice: punishment and its theories
- Deterrent and retributive theories
- Preventive, reformative and expiatory theories
- The Indian approach: a mixed theory
- Punishment and compensation; conclusion
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