Mezhdu garmoniej i haosom: predstavlenie o spravedlivosti v anglijskoj politicheskoj mysli XII v.

Abstract

It might seem paradoxical, but there was no uniform understanding of justice as a term in medieval Europe, and especially in English political theory of the twelfth century (in John of Salisbury’s “Policraticus”). The concepts “iustitia” and “aequitas” were used in the texts of the different genres written in Latin, and they are synonyms for some authors, but these are in opposition to one another and reflect the different poles of existence for others (for example, we encounter contrast the earthly justice (“iustitia”) with celestial one (“aequitas” or “iustitia Dei”), and with the perverted justice of devil (“iustitia diaboli”) accepted by humankind and with the Divine justice in scholastic works). The term “justice” (“iustitia”) meant the “art of right living” in the widest sense, the legality in Roman law tradition fed by a lot of important theories of the Antique philosophy and learned in West. The justice is in fact interpreted as orderliness and law and order, as a legal behaviour, regulated by the dispositions of the written laws. This understanding considered from the standpoint of the Holy Revelation was extended and added in Christian patristics: justice (the lexeme “justitia” is the most active as before) is associated with respect, with devotion, with righteousness and even with the fear of God, and this means, it is converted into higher moral register.