Justinian I, a Roman Emperor, now a saint, wrote these maxims a few centuries A.D.
The maxims of law are these:
1) to live honesty.
2) to hurt no one.
3) to give every one his due.
From Wikipedia, ….
Justinian I or Justinian the Great was Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death. He is considered a saint amongst Eastern Orthodox Christians. He has also sometimes been considered the Last Roman emperor. One of his legacies was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which is still the basis of civil law in many modern states.
The most recent judicial case to which I was exposed broke all three of the Justinian Maxims.
1) The plaintiff lied. The court didn’t punish for the perjury and wouldn’t supply the courtroom tapes or bear witness to prove the perjury.
2 &3 ) Not only was restitution not given, but the victim had to spend a year in and out of court trying to prove his case. Then the victim had to pay for a lawyer to attend the proceedings when he was out of state and the court wouldn’t reschedule the hearings without a personal visit to the court. The victim also had to invest money in an appeal which was denied by the requirement that he post a bond treble the amount of the appeal. The victim was then sued to pay for the plaintiffs legal costs for refuting the appeal that was required because of the plaintiffs damages and perjury.
4) Judges are not required to give a reason for their decisions, thus an appeal and further motions are difficult as the defendant has to guess the reason that his case failed. The judge can hide in his “Ivory Tower” withholding everything. A judge can be prejudiced and/or insane without being affected by anyone harmed by his/her judgment or lack of judgment.
Cracks 4,5 and 6 in the Liberty Bell are that neither the law or the courts have to comply with the Justinian Maxims. The law isn’t required to be moral or to effect restitution.
Crack 7 in the Liberty Bell is that Judges don’t have to give reasons for their decisions. This makes finding mistakes extremely difficult. The judge can’t be criticized and the case can’t be easily appealed.
Most lawyers call the “Judicial System” a “Court of Law” and make the distinction that they are not required to be just.
In order for restitution to happen, the case must be big enough to pay for all the legal expenses and the lying party has to be unbelievable. The trouble is, a rehearsed lie probably sounds more believable than the truth.