Justice
Whenever two parties enter an economic transaction there has to be agreement on a fair distribution of costs and benefits between the parties. Such agreements are usually handled by contracts or left to market forces to resolve. Various questions about the equity of such distribution inevitably arise, however:
How should a company pay its shareholders, executives, office workers, and manual staff so that everybody gets fair compensation for their input into the corporation?
How should a company take into account the demands of local communities, employees, and shareholders when planning an investment with major impacts on the environment?
How should a government allocate money for education so that every section of society gets a fair chance of a good education?
We could easily multiply these examples, but what becomes clear is that individual rights have to be realized in such a way that they are addressed equally and fairly. This is where the issue of justice arises, since justice is all about how fairly individuals are treated so that they get what they deserve.
Justice The simultaneous fair treatment of individuals in a given situation with the result that everybody gets what they deserve.
The crucial moral issues here are what exactly ‘fairness’ should mean in a particular situation and by which standards we can decide what a person might reasonably deserve.
