CONCEPT – FIAT JUSTITIA RUAT CAELUM

Excellent study material for all civil services aspirants - begin learning - Kar ke dikhayenge!

CONCEPT – FIAT JUSTITIA RUAT CAELUM

---

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

---

• Meaning: Fiat justitia ruat cælum is a Latin legal phrase which means – "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."  It signifies the belief that justice must be realized regardless of consequences.
• A positive sense: The exact phrase (as used for approval of justice at all cost) is usually seen in a positive sense.
• Short version: Often, the shortened version of the phrase, i.e., fiat justitia, is used compared to the original one. It means let justice be done.
• Roman law system: Several legal systems are heavily influenced by the Roman law system. England, its former colonies, and America use variations of the Roman law. It is called "Common law." It is the reason why several Latin phrases are used.
• Origin: It dates back to the first century BCE, as a general philosophical statement at that time rather than a technical legal term. In his work De Ira (On Anger), Seneca narrates a story of a Roman statesman Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. One day, in a fit of anger, Piso ordered the execution of a soldier. The soldier had returned alone from his leave without his comrade. Piso took this as a sign that the soldier had killed his comrade. However, just before the execution, the lost comrade arrived at the scene. A centurion overseeing the execution stopped it, as the appearance of the comrade proved that the guilty soldier is actually innocent. The matter was presented before Piso again to suspend the execution orders. However, this made Piso so angry that he ordered three executions (the soldier – order already given, the centurion – order not carried out, the comrade – responsible for two innocents dying!). Piso saw to it that "justice" be carried out even if morally wrong.
• 1933 case: Judge James Edwin Horton referred to the maxim when he recalled his decision to overturn the conviction of Haywood Patterson in the infamous Scottsboro Boys trial. In 1933, Judge Horton set aside the death sentence of Patterson, one of nine black men who were wrongfully convicted of raping two white women in Alabama. Horton knew it would mean the end of his judicial career.
• American Courts: The phrase is engraved on the wall behind the bench in the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Tennessee Supreme Court uses the phrase as its motto; it appears in the seal of the Court and is inlaid into the floor of the lobby of the court's building in Nashville. During World War II, the 447th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force used the phrase as its motto, which appeared on the group's official unit markings. The University of Saskatchewan College of Law uses the first half of the phrase as their motto, simply: "Fiat Justitia“.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

---

Join UPSC Self Prep course | Online Course (PT Gurukul)  | Covid Special Course | Join PT courses

* Content sourced from free internet sources (publications, PIB site, international sites, etc.). Take your own subscriptions. Copyrights acknowledged.