Lady Justice

Lady Justice

Lady Justice (Justitia, the Roman Goddess of Justice and sometimes, simply "Justice") is a 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, blended with Roman blindfolded Fortuna (Greek Tyche).

In Antiquity, Dike, daughter of Themis, was imagined carrying scales: "If some god had been holding level the balance of Dike" is an image in a fragment of Bacchylides.

As stated above, Lady Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold. Due to the fact that blindfolds were commonly worn by the blind, some assume Lady Justice herself is blind. This belief is likely what led to the phrase, "Justice is blind".

Justice is most often depicted carrying a double edged sword (most often in her right hand) which divides with the power of Reason in either direction simultaneously, this is Blind Justice prepared to cut the baby in half; and with a set of weighing scales (typically suspended from her left hand) upon which She measures the strengths of the case for and against.

Justice in sculpture

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  Colby County Courthouse, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
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  Lady Justice depicted with sword, scales and blindfold.
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  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.
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  Federal Court House, Newark, New Jersey, USA
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  Justice [left] leaning on the tablets of the law and the fasces, Youngstown, Ohio, USA
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  Art-deco styled Justice, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

External links

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