JUSTITIA

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

← Dictionary
JUSTITIAAuthored
The Law Mind • 947 words
Definition
Latin and Law Latin. Justitia carries two distinct legal meanings in historical sources. 1. Justice as principle. In Roman and civil law, justitia denotes the concept of justice itself — the fundamental legal and moral principle of rendering to each person what is rightfully theirs. The classic formulation, drawn directly from Justinian's Institutes, defines it as constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi: the constant and perpetual will to give every person his due. This is not merely an aspiration but a foundational axiom of the civil law tradition, expressing the animating purpose behind legal obligation. 2. A judge or judicial office. In Law Latin usage, justitia also refers to a justice or judge of a court, and to the jurisdiction or office such a person holds. English legal usage derived the modern term "justice" (as in Justice of the Peace, or a Supreme Court Justice) from this Latin root through Old French. These two meanings — abstract principle and concrete officer — are related: the office takes its name from the ideal it is meant to embody.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): In general English, justitia is encountered primarily as the name of the Roman goddess of justice (the counterpart of the Greek Dike), as a female given name, or as a Latin loanword meaning justice, order, and judgment. Historical common usage: Webster's 1913 does not treat justitia as an independent English entry; it appears only as a Latin term within legal glossaries and classical references. Editorial note: The gap between common and legal usage is significant. Casual modern encounters with justitia are likely mythological or decorative — the blindfolded figure atop courthouses. In legal research, the term functions as a technical Latin term of art with precise doctrinal content, particularly in civil law jurisdictions and historical English common law materials. Encountering it in a legal text requires distinguishing between its use as a maxim-source (invoking the principle of justice) and its use as a title or office designation.
Common Confusion
Justitia is sometimes read interchangeably with jus (right or law) in maxim literature. They are not synonymous. Jus refers to the body of law or a specific legal right; justitia refers to the disposition or virtue — and the institutional machinery — through which jus is realized. Conflating them distorts the meaning of classical maxims that deploy both terms in deliberate sequence.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encounter justitia primarily in three contexts: civil law foundations, Latin maxims, and historical English court nomenclature. In civil law materials, justitia anchors the opening title of Justinian's Institutes and Digest. When historical dictionaries or treatises invoke the Institutes 1.1 definition, they are citing one of the most frequently quoted passages in Western legal history. Knowing this source allows researchers to trace how a given author is using the term — whether as genuine civil law citation or as rhetorical invocation. In maxim literature, justitia appears in a cluster of related principles recorded in sources like Jenkin's Centuries (Jenk. Cent.), a common citation in both Black's and Burrill's. The maxims recorded there — that justice must be free, full, and swift; that it must be denied to none; that it must neither be refused nor delayed — are foundational to English procedural ideals and appear in constitutional arguments about access to courts. Researchers working on due process, Magna Carta traditions, or judicial delay doctrines will encounter these maxims repeatedly. In English legal history, the term justitia as a judge-title appears in early sources such as Glanvill (lib. 2, c. 6) and Coke on Littleton (Co. Litt. 71b). Pre-modern legal records, writs, and plea rolls use justitia where modern sources would say "justice" or "judge." Misreading these as abstract invocations of the principle of justice rather than references to a specific judicial office is a real interpretive trap. Jurisdictional variation matters here as well: the civil law definition (Institutes/Digest) carries more direct doctrinal weight in civilian jurisdictions (Louisiana, Quebec, Scotland, continental Europe) than in common law systems, where it functions more as foundational rhetoric than operative rule.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's and Burrill's handle justitia differently in emphasis, and the difference is instructive. Black's leads with the maxim tradition — quoting Jenkin's Centuries at length — and frames justitia primarily as a source of legal principles about the administration of justice. Burrill's leads with the judicial office meaning (citing Glanvill and Coke) before turning to the civil law definition from the Institutes and Digest. Both sources ultimately cover the same ground, but their sequencing reflects their respective audiences. Black's common law orientation reaches for the aphoristic tradition first. Burrill's more civilian-influenced approach grounds the term in Roman sources before tracing its English institutional evolution. Neither dictionary provides extended analysis of how the term functions in maxim argumentation or explains the intellectual relationship between the Justinian definition and the English procedural maxims — that work is left to the researcher. Both dictionaries, however, agree that justitia is not merely decorative Latin: it is a term with precise historical and doctrinal meaning that does real work in pre-modern legal texts.
Jurisdictional Note
The civil law definition (constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi) retains direct doctrinal relevance in civilian jurisdictions, where it is sometimes cited as a first principle of legal obligation. In common law jurisdictions, justitia appears primarily in historical materials, Latin maxims, and constitutional rhetoric rather than as an operative legal standard.
Related Terms
Jus — Justice (modern English equivalent and derived office title) — Justitiarius — Justiciarius — Themis — Dike — Magna Carta (procedural access traditions) — Civil Law — Institutes of Justinian — Maxim
JUSTITIAmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Lat. Justice. A jurisdic- tion, or the office of a judge. Justitia debet esse libera, quia nihil iniquius venali justitia; plena, quia jus- titia non debet claudicare; et celeris, Justitia nemini neganda est. Jenk. Cent. 178. Justice is to be denied to none. Justitia non est neganda non differ- enda. Jenk. Cent. 93. Justice is neither to be denied nor delayed. Justitia non novit patrem nec matrem; solam veritatem spectat justitia. Justice knows not father nor mother; justice looks at truth alone. 1 Bulst. 199.
JUSTITIAmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870
L. Lat. A justice or judge of a court. Glanv. lib. 2, c. 6. From this has been derived, through the French, the modern justice, (q. v.) Co. Litt. 71 b. Lat. [from justus, q. v.] In the civil law. Justice. Justitia est constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi; Justice is the constant and perpetual disposition or will of giving to every man his right. Inst. 1. 1. pr. Dig. 1. 1. 10. It will be seen that justice is here defined to be a disposition or will, (voluntas,) rather than an outward conduct, and Bracton, who copies the definition word for word, and comments upon it, lays considerable stress upon this feature: Dicitur voluntas tribuere jus suum, non quantum ad actum sed quantum ad affectionem. Bract. fol. 2 b. Some of the modern civilians, however, regard this definition as altogether erroneous and untenable, unless Lex. Aut. Gell. Noct. Att. lib. 20, c. 1, voluntas be understood to imply that jus- § 43. Blount refers to this old term as tice consisted not merely in an outward used in the Laws of Canute. conformity with the law, but in a conduct JUSTIZA, Justicia. In old Spanish that agreed with the precepts of the law law. A supreme judge. A judicial mafrom internal disposition and free volition. gistrate peculiar to the kingdom of Aragon, 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, 121, 122, § 112. who acted as the protector of the people Id. 122, 124, Kaufmann's note. Fleta and the controller of the prince. His perquotes the definition with the following son was sacred, his power and jurisdiction modification: Est autem justitia constans et perpetua voluntas, jus suum unicuique tribuens, vel hoc saltem affectans; justice is a constant and perpetual disposition, giving to every man his right, or at least, desiring this. Fleta, lib. 4, c. 1, § 1. In the common law. Justice. Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus, aut differemus rectum vel justitiam; to no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice. Magna Charta, c. 29. Lord Coke construes right in this passage to mean law, as the means, and justice to be the end of law. 2 Inst. 56. 1 Reeves' Hist. 250, note. Justitia debet esse libera, quia nihil iniquius venali justitia; plena, quia justitia non debet claudicare; et celeris, quia dilatio est quædam negatio; Justice ought to be free, because nothing is more iniquitous than venal justice; full, because justice
Justitianame
Wiktionary (English) • 2026
Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.
One of the Horae, she is the goddess of justice. She is the daughter of Jupiter and Themis; her sisters are Pax and Eunomia. She is the Roman counterpart of Dike. | A female given name from Latin. | justice, order and judgement.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

SubscribeEncyclopediaSign In
The Law Mind Legal Dictionary. This is a legal research library, not a lawyer.
Dictionary • Encyclopedia • Sign In