The balance symbolizes the equilibrium between an offence and its penalty, between crime and punishment. It is a symbol of equality.

The famous lex talionis is an example of mirror symmetry: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Its reciprocity is supposed to be a deterrent. The punishment shares the same nature as the offence.

In Europe, we have opted for a slightly different justice, which appears under the guise of a scale symmetry: the punishment is proportional to the seriousness of the offence, but it does not share the same nature. It may correspond to the deprivation of liberty, to a fine, and, if possible, to a compensation for the damage.

So there are several ways in which justice may be conceived, but all depend on the same principle: a symmetry between the offence and the punishment, subjected to the referential system which is the law.

In both cases, the punishment is intended to deter, to discourage the repetition of the offence. Usually, justice also seeks to facilitate the offender’s reinsertion into society and to give him a second chance. Despite everything, it remains fallible. If ten witnesses state that the cylinder  is rectangular and the accused claims it is circular, he must assuredly be wrong, even though he is telling the truth.

The same problem arises in democracy, where a majority may claim that only its vision, its opinion is true, even though that is not the case, because majority rule has the power of the thundering cannon, while ethics is only a whispering voice…



This quote, borne on the pediment of the Palace of Justice in Assen (Netherlands), is far more than a principle: it is a truth, probably due to Justinian, who codified Roman law. It reminds us that justice and liberty are intimately related. Alas, the western world, since 1789, seems completely obsessed with the notion of unrestricted liberty, to the expense of the idea of justice…

See the chapter on Rotational symmetry, the respect of different points of view