Lesson 35
Justice was done
The word 'justice' is given two different meanings in the text. What is the distinction between them?
The word justice is usually associated with courts of law.
We might say that justice has been done when a man's innocence or guilt has been proved beyond doubt.
Justice is part of the complex machinery of the law.
Those who seek it, undertake an arduous journey and can never be sure that they will find it.
Judges, however wise or eminent, are human and can make mistakes.
There are rare instances when justice almost ceases to be an abstract concept.
Reward or punishment are meted out quite independent of human interference.
At such times, justice acts like a living force.
When we use a phrase like 'it serves him right',
we are, in part, admitting that a certain set of circumstances has enabled justice to act of its own accord.
When a thief was caught on the premises of a large jewellery store one morning,
the shop assistants must have found it impossible to resist the temptation to say 'it serves him right'.
The shop was an old converted house with many large, disused fireplaces and tall, narrow chimneys.
Towards midday, a girl heard a muffled cry coming from behind one of the walls.
As the cry was repeated several times,
she ran to tell the manager who promptly rang up the fire brigade.
The cry had certainly come from one of the chimneys,