>>186

I was once told a story about the word 'justice'. So, it turns out that in ancient Rome, the common court strategy was to convincingly bend the interpretation of the laws being applied or broken. This adjustment of the interpretation of a law was so common, it was referred to as 'justice'. To wit, justice is just how you interpret things.

I have no idea if the story is true or not. It does, however, highlight my idea of how justice works. First, there's 'legal justice', which doesn't concern itself with morality. It's purpose is to simply provide a framework for the operation and boundaries of society. Your story about the license removal is relevant here. The DUI is a result of breaking the law, regardless of why said law exists, and requires the punishment dictated by that law regardless of whether it makes sense or not. The same with someone stealing your $200 TV. It's not about fairness or righteousness, so much as creating and maintaining a framework around which society can operate.

Your story about the robber who gets hit by the car highlights what I'll call 'personal justice'. That is, the need for revenge or satisfaction. This is highly subjective, but requires that someone has a sense that something wrong has occurred, and that a compensatory event has occurred (or needs to occur) to offset it. The compensatory event is subjective. Some people might feel that getting hit by a car is less preferable to arrest, others might feel it's spot on. In either case, it's people making a personal judgement out of a need for satisfaction rather than the fulfillment of legal requirements.

Notice I haven't really mentioned justice in a moral sense. As far as I can tell, it doesn't exist. I've seen too many people get ahead in life by abusing others, and no repercussions as a result. Justice, as far as I can tell, is just a legal construct to hold society together, and a personal construct to help people feel there is a moral balance to the world.

In other words, yes, the illusion if justice is more important than justice itself, if only because justice itself does not exist in it's classically imagined form.