Generally, one would assume that the whole purpose of law is to promote justice. However, there are may varied theories on this relationship and first, it is necessary to consider them in terms of procedural and substantive justice.
Justice literally means ‘the quality of being morally right and fair’ (Oxford Dictionary). Generally, one would assume that the whole purpose of law is to promote justice. However, there are may varied theories on this relationship and first, it is necessary to consider them in terms of procedural and substantive justice.Procedural justice, which is favoured by the Conservative party, is concerned with the methods and procedures in place for making decisions and allocating goods and services. Under the Conservative Government, as long as these procedures are fair and everyone has an equal chance to get access to the law, the system can be seen as formally just. Nevertheless, this may lead to injustice due to the rigid application of the law (e.g. stare decisis). For instance, married women before the landmark case of R v. R (1991), which employed the Practice Statement to alter a 200-year-old rule, may be treated unjustly by the law. By having marital status, they were being denied the protection that was offered to every other woman against being raped. Concrete justice, in contrast, is preferred by the ‘old’ Labour party which developed on the rule of equity i.e. justice in its simplest sense is based on fair and equal treatments (Eves v. Eves 1975).The first theory of law and justice comes from natural law. It is a strange concept since different views can be taken on what the natural source is. Aristotle believed that it could be found in