We cannot live in peace without Law. And though law cannot be perfect, it be just if it is written in ignorance of the identity of the claimants and applied equally to all. Then it is a possession not only of the claimants but of the society, which may now base its actions upon a reasonable assumption of the law's treatment.
But 'fairness' is not only a nonlegal but an antilegal process, for it deals not with universally applicable principles and strictures, but with specific cases, responding to the perceived or proclaimed needs of individual claimants, and their desire for extralegal preference. And it could be said to substitute {a determination which must always be subjective} for {the application of the legislated will of the electorate}, is to enshrine greed--the greed, in this case, not for wealth, but for preference.
But 'fairness' is not only a nonlegal but an antilegal process, for it deals not with universally applicable principles and strictures, but with specific cases, responding to the perceived or proclaimed needs of individual claimants, and their desire for extralegal preference. And it could be said to substitute {a determination which must always be subjective} for {the application of the legislated will of the electorate}, is to enshrine greed--the greed, in this case, not for wealth, but for preference.
( David Mamet )
[ The Secret Knowledge: On the ]
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