e matter, justice is the according to every one his right,
and that right is such freedom of action in gratifying one's desires
as can be exercised in harmony with like freedom by others. In other
words, it is equal freedom, equal restraint. It is order and harmony.
Plato and Aristotle were right in teaching that order is an essential
element of justice.

But who is to determine the matter? Who is to determine what degree of
restraint or liberty is necessary to secure this order and harmony,
this justice? Obviously it is society, or rather, individuals acting
as a whole through society and not each individual acting for himself,
that must determine such questions. Society has the responsibility. If
it imposes too many restraints or imposes them unequally it excites,
as said before, resentment and antagonism, sometimes to the extent of
resistance. If it imposes no more restraints than are necessary and
imposes them equally, order and harmony are secured. And when we have
this equal freedom with equal and only necessary restraints we have
order and harmony,--in other words, justice. Indeed, to repeat,
justice in some of its aspects may be considered as the desired
equilibrium between the needs of society and the interests of its
individual members.

I have left out of the account various virtues,--pity, sympathy,
philanthropy, generosity and the like. Though these make social life
more agreeable and contribute much to the sum of human happiness, they
are not essential to the existence of the race or society. Society as
an organization is not held together by these virtues, though many of
its weaker members might suffer and perish if they were non-existent.
Allow men as much freedom of thought and action as can be exercised
without interference with like freedom of others, but restrain them
from exercising any greater freedom, and they can and will live
together in society though they may be wholly selfish in feeling and
conduct. What is called the golden rule, that we should do to others
as we would have them do to us, is a precept of philanthropy, of
charity, not of justice. The rule enunciated by Confucius five hundred
years before Christ, the rule that we should not do to others what we
would not have them do to us, is sufficient for the existence of
society. The French Convention of 1793 stated the proposition in these
words: "Liberty is the power that belongs to man to do whatever is not
injurious to the rights of