Fiat justitia
Fiat justitia is a Latin phrase, meaning “Let justice be done". Historically in England, a warrant for a writ of error in Parliament[1] or later a petition of right in the courts could be brought only after the king, or on his behalf the Home Secretary, had endorsed fiat justitia on a petition for such a warrant.[2] It was a means of granting leave to appeal by exercise of the royal prerogative.
[edit] Famous modern uses
"Fiat Justitia" appears at the bottom of the 1835 portrait of Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall by Rembrandt Peale, which hangs in a conference room at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. It is also the motto of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and the Massachusetts Bar Association, and appears on the official seals of both institutions.
"Fiat Justitia" is the motto of Britain's Royal Air Force Police as well as the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
[edit] References
- ^ Black, Henry Campbell (1995). A law dictionary containing definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern (2nd, reprint ed.). The Lawbook Exchange. p. 404. ISBN 1886363102.
- ^ Walker, David M (1980). The Oxford Companion to Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 1366. ISBN 019866110X.
