Chapter 4. Justice and the Rule of Law (Excerpt)

Abstract

The Preamble to the U. S. Constitution explains that part of the purpose in establishing the new government was to “establish justice.” Madison promised, in Federalist #51, that: Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger. As he so often did throughout his life, Madison flip-flopped on the purpose of government, when it suited his purpose. In another document, Madison stated that the purpose of government was to protect the property rights of the natural aristocracy: Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that which lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses. This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own. While Madison referenced the term “justice” in Federalist #51, he never defined in that document what the term meant in the context of the new government. Justice and protection of property meant the same thing, and were interchangeable, in Madison’s constitution.