Minimal Justice

Stating what maximum justice demands is straightforward. Justice prevails if everyone is treated equally whenever anything is distributed or if any unequal distribution reflects a particular achievement or needs, and if compensation is always granted if something is taken. Such distribution includes according or assigning any kind of right or duty, which may take the form of opportunities, positions, services, and obligations. When it comes to what may be taken and the form that compensation assumes, the spectrum ranges from property or life and limb, taken through criminal acts and paid for by punishment for such crimes, to intentional or negligent damage and payments to remedy it, and even encompasses contractual agreements that stipulate precisely what the contracting parties shall give and take.