Thoughts on the Notion of Justice

Abstract

The article has addressed the problem of understanding justice. The traditional formula “to render to everyone his own” (suum cuique tribuere) was taken as the point of departure. The discussion leads to the conclusion that natural justice applies to every person, and that every person is entitled to natural, innate, fundamental human rights. The traditional formula with regard to law should be understood as a principle-norm, a principle of law that imposes an obligation to render to everyone what is due. It is the duty of authorities (which manage the social life) to implement this obligation. The innate natural rights enshrined and safeguarded in positive law will be combined with the statutory, precise, strengthened norms of this law, and thus enhanced (since it is a natural obligation, a moral and legal obligation, of the human being not to violate these natural rights) with the prohibition of violating them by others.