Lady Justice

Lady Justice (Iustitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice and sometimes, simply "Justice") is an allegorical personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system. Since the Renaissance, Justitia has frequently been depicted as a bare-breasted woman carrying a sword and scales, and sometimes wearing a blindfold. Her modern iconography, which frequently adorns courthouses and courtrooms, conflates the attributes of several goddesses who embodied Right Rule for Greeks and Romans, blending Roman blindfolded Fortuna with Hellenistic Greek Tyche. Image File history File links Lady_justice_standing. ... Image File history File links Lady_justice_standing. ... This article is about the concept of justice. ... Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century Look up Sword in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Digital kitchen scales. ... A blindfold is a strip of cloth used to cover the eyes, rendering the user effectively (but temporarily) blind. ... Look up Iconography in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... In most counties in the United States the local trial courts conduct their business in a centrally located courthouse which may also house the offices of the county treasurer, clerk and recorder and assessor. ... A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court. ... Fortuna governs the circle of the four stages of life, the Wheel of Fortune, in a manuscript of Carmina Burana In Roman mythology, Fortuna (equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) was the personification of luck, hopefully of good luck, but she could be represented veiled and blind, as modern depictions... Tyche on the reverse of this coin by Gordian III. In Greek mythology, Tyche (Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. ...

Justitia's attributes parallel those of the Hellenic deity Themis, the embodiment of divine order, law and custom, in her aspect as the personification of the divine rightness of law. However, the mythological connection is not a direct one. Themis' daughter Dike was imagined carrying scales: "If some god had been holding level the balance of Dike" is an image in a surviving fragment of Bacchylides's poetry. Hellenic may refer to: the Hellenic Republic (the modern Greek state) the Hellenes, itself a term for either ancient or modern Greeks anything related to Greece in general or Ancient Greece in particular. ... In Greek mythology, Hesiod mentions Themis among the six sons and six daughters—of whom Cronos was one—of Gaia and Ouranos, that is, of Earth with Sky. ... Dike, (Δίκη - Greek for justice) the Greek goddess of moral justice, one of the three second generation Horae. ... Bacchylides, Ancient Greek lyric poet, was born at Iulis, in the island of Ceos. ...

Justitia is most often depicted with a set of weighing scales typically suspended from her left hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. She is also often seen carrying a double-edged sword in her right hand, symbolizing the power of Reason and Justice, which may be wielded either for or against any party.

As stated above, Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold. This is done in order to indicate that justice is (or should be) meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of the identity, power, or weakness: blind justice & blind equality. Blind Justice is the theory that law should be viewed objectively. ... Blind equality is the application of impartial judgement concerning multiple persons (or objects), usually in the application of human law by removing consideration of all irrelevant attributes, so that no partiality is held for any party. ...

Justice in sculpture

Lady Justice atop the Old Bailey in London, England Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The Old Bailey. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...	Shelby County Courthouse, Memphis, Tennessee, USA Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (448x675, 123 KB) photo by Einar Einarsson Kvaran aka Carptrash 19:52, 12 October 2006 (UTC) . I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free... For other uses, see Memphis (disambiguation). ...	Lady Justice depicted with sword, scales and blindfold. Sculpture of 1543 by Hans Gieng in Bern, Switzerland. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1656x2662, 1859 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Lady Justice Hans Gieng Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... The iconic Lady Justice on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen in Bern, ruling over and revered by secular and spiritual authority (represented by the Emperor and Pope)[1] is one of the best-known works attributed to Hans Gieng. ... Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ...	This 19th-century sculpture of the Power of Law at Olomouc, Czech Republic, lacks the blindfold and scales of Justice, replacing the latter with a book. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 1368 KB) Popis en: Allegory of Justice - statue at court building in Olomouc (Czech Republic). ... town hall with astronomical clock Olomouc (German Olmütz, Polish Ołomuniec, Latin Eburum or Olomucium) is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. ...
Sculpture of Lady Justice on the Fountain of Justice (Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen) in Frankfurt, Germany. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Iustitia

• DOJ Seal - History and Motto
• Origin of Lady of Justice
• Images of the Goddess of Justice
• Photos of Lady Justice