Law, Justice And Common Men

Author: Nidhi Chaudhary 2nd year BA.LLB, Banasthali Vidhyapith

“ Law without Justice is a wound without cure” -William Scott Downey

Introduction

When an individual or a common man behaves uniformly under some specified conditions, showing Regularities in their behaviour, such a situation is characterized by law. The main cause of Regularities and Orderliness in the whole world and society is Law. To understand the nature of law more specifically all laws governing the universe and society are distinguished between scientific laws and Stipulative laws and Scientific law or Descriptive laws are operates in the universe, that is exist out of control and will of common men. The only can be discovered by comment man but he can’t change them. They are self enforceable, any external forces don’t require to operate such laws. Such types of laws include ‘ law of gravitation and ‘law of diminishing return’. These laws help to increase production in the economy or to make machines or devices.

On the other hand, prescriptive or Stipulative laws are man-made, they are adopted by societies to maintain peace, stability in society and to regulate behaviour in society. Prescriptive laws Set guidelines on what to do and what to not do in specified conditions or situations These types of rules are enforceable by some sought of sanctions, and any departure from these laws is sufficient to make one liable for the punishment under prescribed rules. These types of laws can be changed and alter by the need of time. For example, a penalty code that prescribes various punishments for different offences is categorized as Stipulative of prescriptive law. Since these types of laws can be changed during the course of interpretation and according to the sense of Justice.

The term ‘justice’ denotes the State of being ‘right’ ‘ just’ and ‘reasonable’. For instance, the natural school of jurisprudence states that justice deals with the implementation of religious laws, while the modern school of jurisprudence argue that justice is related to the implementation of concepts like equality, liberty in society. Since both have a consensus on the implementation and enforcement of what laws pertains to be ‘just’ ‘right’ and ‘reasonable’. Hence, in the modern phase, Justice is basically deal’s with the implementation of the laws made by the legislature and this function is lies upon the judicial organ of the state. So we can conclude that ‘justice’ represents the recognition, implementation and enforcement of the laws made by the legislature in a ‘just’ ‘right’ and ‘reasonable’ manner.

‘Law’ and ‘justice’ are more or less work as a wound and cure. It is famously said that “Law without justice is a wound without cure “. Where the law is a wound and justice is the cure. Law is a weapon to preserve justice in society for common men. A common man is an ordinary human being that resides in a state and who have certain basic rights and obligation towards the state. The common man can belong to any society, community and from any social political and economic background.

•Law, Justice and morality :

Only through a prescribed procedure Law can be enacted. A law that is properly enacted and recognized as per the procedure is valid otherwise it’s invalid. While if we talk about Morality it is solely based upon the philosophy of what is right and what is wrong. But practically, the law can be enacted in consensus with morality. But in reality, morality and law take different paths. Like when law enforced any act which is against the conscience, this will create a confrontation between legal duties and moral obligations. For example – In the case of India, There is an act ‘ the medical termination of the pregnancy act, 1971’ that deals with provisions of medical termination of pregnancy in various cases. This act or statute clash with the morality of many citizens in India but law has enacted it to protect the women of India from unwanted pregnancies.

• Law, Justice and liberty :

liberty is understood as ‘ the absence of restraints’ while of we talk about law, it imposed certain restrictions or various acts and activities. Liberty is accepted universally, but the liberty of one individual mustn’t hamper or endangered the liberty of another individual and hence, it is required to impose certain limitations and restrictions on the freedom of individuals to allow equal liberty to all. For instance, Article 21 of the Indian Constitution provides “ Right to life and personal liberty “ to all, but Indian Constitution also given certain restrictions on freedom and liberty, the liberty provided by Article 19 have certain limitations though reasonable terminated to them. In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978 AIR 597) it was ruled that the right to life and personal liberty of a person can be deprived only by the procedure prescribed by law that is reasonable, just and fair.

• Law and Justice in the Sphere of Crime and civil disputes :

All those acts of individuals that are deemed to be a danger to the liberty and safety of other individuals are considered offences by law and for such acts, punishment is also prescribed under law. Such laws are considered as ‘ criminal laws’ For instance – Murder, Culpable Homicide, theft, dacoity etc. Kunwar lal v state of Madhya Pradesh (1999 CR LJ 3632) it was held that the accused were a part of loot and murder during the offence and hence each of them is liable and shall be punished under section 396 of Indian penal code 1860. On the other hand, the law that deals with the personal rights and disputes of individuals is considered Civil law. For example, if a person causes any damage or discomfort to any person or his property, he is liable to pay damages or compensation and not to undergo punishment. But in certain cases, if the civil matter became grave then it can be handled as per the provisions of criminal law for instance in the case of fraud or driving rashly resulting in killing someone etc.

• Law and Justice in the sphere of economic control

In the time of industrialization, Modern states Participate in a lot of production functions and activities, This creates a need to put certain limitations on Individuals and corporate bodies. For instance, For the protection of consumers, there is a statute “ The consumer protection Act 2019” and employers are also bound by labour laws like Minimum wages act 1948, payment of bonus act 1965 etc. These all are examples of economic control. In Arvind shah (Dr.) V kamlaben khushwah, in this case, the complaint was regarding medical negligence, wrong treatment of her son by the doctors. Hence, The state commission held that doctors are liable for negligence and provided compensation of five lakh rupees.

• Law and Justice in the sphere of social welfare :

Law in the sphere of social welfare is used as an instrument of social justice. For instance, imposing taxation on richer sections for the maintenance of schools, hospitals, etc. For the subaltern sections of society Part 5 of the Indian Constitution, The directive principles of state policy highlight that India is a welfare state. Also, entrepreneurs are encouraged to establish industries in backward areas for the sake of development. Certain rights under directive principles are:

1. Right to adequate means of livelihood under Article 39(a),

2. Right against Economic Exploitation under Article 39 (B) ;

3. Right to equal pay for work without any discrimination under Article 39 (D),

4. Right to work Right to leisure and rest under Article 43’

5. Right to public assistance in the case of unemployment or, sickness, or old age under Article 42;

6. Right to education under Article 41 and Right to compulsory and free education of children under Article 45;

7. Rights related to just and humane conditions of work and rights to maternity relief under Article 42.

The rise of the welfare state in India has largely increased the sphere of legal regulations in India. At last, we concluded that laws are enacted for the benefit of all society and laws are the means of serving justice to the society. Hence, the purpose of the law is to serve justice, showing equal opportunities, means of survival i.e resources and Rights to all without any discrimination. And In all similar cases law should be equally and effectively applied to all without any discrimination.

REFERENCES :

1.POLITICAL THEORY BY O.P GAUBA

2.https://blog.ipleaders.in/blog/

3.http://www.legalservicesindia.com

4.The Indian penal code, 1860, Universal Lexis Nexis