The law isn't justice

The title of this blog, Law Rules, has two meanings. First, the law is composed of rules about what we must and must not do in our daily and business lives as citizens of a civilized society. The rules also define how we resolve disputes about who has complied with the law and who has not. Second, it is often said that no one is above the law, and we are governed by laws, not by men. Of course, people make the laws. So the law, like people, can never be perfect.

Recently, I ran across the following quote by Raymond Chandler, author of private detective novels:

The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.

Those of you who have read any of my previous posts have probably figured out that I agree with this thought completely. Litigation and arbitration are win-lose propositions. They are designed to search for the truth and put an end to the dispute. The dispute ultimately ends. Sometimes, truth and justice prevail. Justice requires that people treat each other fairly. The law can be one mechanism that occasionally helps us achieve justice, but it is not the only one. To achieve justice more frequently, our tool box must be much broader.