Jedem das Seine

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"Jedem das Seine" is a German translation of an old Greek principle of justice which translates literally into English as "To each his own," but with the idiomatic meaning of "To each according to his merits."

The phrase was made famous by the Roman author, orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC): "Justitia suum cuique distribuit." ("Justice renders to everyone his due." De legibus, I, 19.)

"Suum cuique" served as a motto to Prussia's King Frederick the Great, and is still used by the German military police (the Feldjäger).

During World War II, the Nazis used the German phrase at the entrance to the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The phrase rendered notorious a Nokia advertising campaign in Germany in 1998, rousing objections from the American Jewish Committee.

The phrase is still used as a proverb in Germany, though sometimes evoking negative associations.