Lady Justice

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"Lady Justice" or "Lord Justice" is also the title of judges on the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

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. This is done in order to indicate that justice is (or should be) meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of the identity, power, or weakness of the individuals brought before the bar. 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 with a set of weighing scales typically suspended from her left hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case's support and opposition. She is also often seen carrying a double edged sword in her right hand which divides with the power of Reason and Justice in either direction simultaneously.

[edit] Justice in sculpture

Shelby County Courthouse, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Lady Justice depicted with sword, scales and blindfold. Sculpture of 1543 by Hans Gieng in Bern, Switzerland.

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.