Dominique Marie N.

Epie

JUSTICE AND LAW

According to Science Daily (2019), “justice is a concept of moral rightness based ethics,
rationality, law, natural law, religion, equity and fairness, as well as the administration of the
law, taking into account the inalienable and inborn rights of all human beings and citizens, the
right of all people and individuals to equal protection before the law of their civil rights, without
discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin,
color, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, wealth, or other characteristics, and is further regarded
as being inclusive of social justice.”

“According to most contemporary theories of justice, justice is overwhelmingly

important: John Rawls claims that ‘Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of
systems of thought.’ Justice can be thought of as distinct from benevolence, charity, prudence,
mercy, generosity, or compassion, although these dimensions are regularly understood to also
be interlinked. Justice is the concept of cardinal virtues, of which it is one. Justice has
traditionally been associated with concepts of fate, reincarnation or Divine Providence, i.e. with
a life in accordance with the cosmic plan. The association of justice with fairness has thus been
historically and culturally rare and is perhaps chiefly a modern innovation [in western societies]”
(Science Daily, 2019).

The concept of justice differs in every culture. Early theories of justice were set out by
the Ancient Greek philosophers Plato in his work The Republic, and Aristotle in his
Nicomachean Ethics. Throughout history various theories have been established. Advocates of
divine command theory argue that justice issues from God. In the 1600s, theorists like John
Locke argued for the theory of natural law. Thinkers in the social contract tradition argued that
justice is derived from the mutual agreement of everyone concerned. In the 1800s, utilitarian
thinkers including John Stuart Mill argued that justice is what has the best consequences.
Theories of distributive justice concern what is distributed, between whom they are to be
distributed, and what is the proper distribution. Egalitarians argued that justice can only exist
within the coordinates of equality. John Rawls used a social contract argument to show that
justice, and especially distributive justice, is a form of fairness. Property rights theorists (like
Robert Nozick) also take a consequentialist view of distributive justice and argue that property
rights-based justice maximizes the overall wealth of an economic system. Theories of
retributive justice are concerned with punishment for wrongdoing. Restorative justice (also
sometimes called "reparative justice") is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of
victims and offenders (Wikipedia, 2019).

On the other hand, “laws are rules and guidelines established and enforced by the
government and its entities,” as defined by Squadrin (2019). “They vary from country to
country and there is a body of international laws that applied to all states that decide to ratify
certain treaties or conventions. National laws are principles and norms that regulate the
behavior of all citizens and of all individuals under the government’s jurisdiction. Laws are
created by the government through a long and complex process, and once established they are
implemented by governmental entities and interpreted by lawyers and judges. Laws establish
what citizens, business, and governmental agencies can or cannot do. Although there is a set
of written legislations, the judiciary system has the power to interpret them and to enforce them
in all different situations” (Squadrin, 2019).

The concepts of law and justice are often confused and misinterpreted by many. While
the two are strictly connected, they are not the same thing. Justice is a broad concept that is
based on equality of rights, fairness and morality. Conversely, law is a body of regulations and
standards set up by governments and international bodies and is (or should be) based on the
idea of justice. Laws are written norms that regulate the actions of the citizens and of the
government itself in all aspects, whereas justice is a principle that may or may not be
universally recognized. Therefore, all laws should be based on the idea of justice and all
governments should enforce national laws in a just and equal way. Unfortunately, this is not
always the case and laws are often broken, non-respected and/or enforced in biased and partial
ways. Furthermore, justice supersedes national legislation and applies to all individuals without
discriminations or limitations (Squadrin, 2019).

JURISDICTION

Jurisdiction (from the Latin ius, iuris meaning "law" and dicere meaning "to speak"),
according to Wikipedia (2019), is the practical authority granted to a legal body to administer
justice within a defined field of responsibility, e.g., Michigan tax law. In federations like the
United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels; e.g. the court has
jurisdiction to apply federal law.

Colloquially it is used to refer to the geographical area to which such authority applies,
e.g. the court has jurisdiction over all of Colorado. The legal term refers only to the granted
authority, not to a geographical area.

Jurisdiction draws its substance from international law, conflict of laws, constitutional
law, and the powers of the executive and legislative branches of government to allocate
resources to best serve the needs of society.

Generally, international laws and treaties provide agreements which nations agree to be
bound to. Such agreements are not always established or maintained. The exercise of
extraterritorial jurisdiction by three principles outlined in the UN charter. These are equality of
states, territorial sovereignty and non-intervention. This raises the question of when can a states
prescribe or enforce jurisdiction. The Lotus case establishes two key rules to the prescription
and enforcement of jurisdiction. The case outlines that jurisdiction is territorial and that a state
may not exercise is jurisdiction in the territory of another state unless there is a rule that permits
this. On that same note, states enjoy a wide measure of discretion to prescribe jurisdiction over
persons, property and acts within their own territory unless there was a rule that prohibits this.

Many nations are subdivided into states or provinces (i.e. a subnational "state"). In a
federation — as can be found in Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico and the United States — such
subunits will exercise jurisdiction through the court systems as defined by the executives and
legislatures. When the jurisdictions of government entities overlap one another—for example
between a state and the federation to which it belongs—their jurisdiction is a shared or
concurrent jurisdiction. Otherwise, one government entity will have exclusive jurisdiction over
the shared area. When jurisdiction is concurrent, one government entity may have supreme
jurisdiction over the other entity if their laws conflict. If the executive or legislative powers
within the jurisdiction are not restricted, or have only limited restrictions, these government
branches have plenary power such as a national policing power. Otherwise, an enabling act
grants only limited or enumerated powers.

Child custody cases in the U.S. are a prime example of jurisdictional dilemmas caused
by different states under a federal alignment. When parents and children are in different states,
there is the possibility of different state court orders over-ruling each other. The U.S. solved
this problem by adopting the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. The
act established criteria for determining which state has primary jurisdiction.

In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 7902, which is a consolidation of House Bill No.
10452 and Senate Bill No. 1495 was finally passed by the House of Representatives and the
Senate on February 16, 1995 and February 20, 1995, respectively. This is an act expanding the
jurisdiction of the court of appeals, amending for the purpose section nine of Batas Pambansa
Blg. 129, as amended, known as the Judiciary Reorganization Act of 1980 (Chan Robles
Virtual Law Library, 2019).

R.A. 7902 states that:

Section 1. Sec. 9 of Batas Pambansa BIg. 129, as amended, known as the Judiciary
Reorganization Act of 1980, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 9. Jurisdiction. - The Court of Appeals shall exercise:

"(1) Original jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus, prohibition, certiorari, habeas

corpus, and quo warranto, and auxilliary writs or processes, whether or not in aid of its
appellate jurisdiction;

"(2) Exclusive original jurisdiction over actions for annulment of judgments of

Regional Trial Courts; and

"(3) Exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all final judgments, decisions, resolutions,
orders or awards of the Regional Trial Courts and quasi-judicial agencies, instrumentalities,
boards or commissions, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Social
Security Commission, the Employees' Compensation Commission and the Civil Service
Commission, except those falling within the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in
accordance with the Constitution, the Labor Code of the Philippines under Presidential Decree
No. 442, as amended, the provisions of this Act, and of subparagraph (1) of the third paragraph
and subparagraph (4) of the fourth paragraph of Section 17 of the Judiciary Act of 1948.

"The Court of Appeals shall have the power to try cases and conduct hearings, receive
evidence and perform any and all acts necessary to resolve factual issues raised in cases falling
within its original and appellate jurisdiction, including the power to grant and conduct new
trials or further proceedings. Trials or hearings in the Court of Appeals must be continuous and
must be completed within three (3) months unless extended by the Chief Justice."

Sec. 2. All provisions of laws and rules inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed or amended accordingly.

Sec. 3. This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in a newspaper
of general circulation.

References
Chan Robles Virtual Law Library. (2019). REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7902. Retrieved from Chanrobles:
http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7902.htm#.XSatMugzbDc

Science Daily. (2019). Justice. Retrieved from Science Daily:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/justice.htm

Squadrin, G. (2019). Difference Between Law and Justice. Retrieved from DifferenceBetween:
http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/legal-miscellaneous/difference-between-
law-and-justice/

Wikipedia. (2019). Jurisdiction. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisdiction

Wikipedia. (2019). Justice. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice