Reading is one of my favourite hobbies. There’s nothing better than being absorbed in a well-written story that keeps you turning the pages well into the night, or looking forward to the time when you pick up that book again. I read facts during the day – newspapers and news sites, and the occasional research material I need in the course of my job – and so I prefer to turn to fiction in my free time.

It’s more relaxing. And fiction can teach you so much too.

Recently, I was reading The Perk, written by Mark Gimenez, a legal thriller about a young girl who died of a drug overdose in the limousine of a politician after having sex with him. A lawyer who learns about the unsolved case when he returns to his hometown after the death of his wife tries his best to find who the perpetrator is. I will not tell you how it ends.

I picked up the book at the stationer’s because the synopsis on the back cover said that “the statute of limitations on the case is fast approaching, and although Beck (the lawyer) vowed to leave the law behind him, he can’t resist the opportunity to seek justice”.

Law and justice. Two words that mean so much. But, although they are connected, they have a completely different meaning.

So much so that, in the preface, the author puts in a quotation on which the story in The Perk is built. The quote is taken from another novel, A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis – “Justice? You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”

I knew that it was not the re-invention of the wheel, but the effect that that sentence and the storyline had on me at that particular moment in my personal life and at that particular moment the country was living through was enormous.

I’ve been thinking a lot about those words and their meaning in the last few weeks. The more I think about them, the more I realise that although the application of the law is of paramount importance, as otherwise we would be living in an anarchy, such application does not necessarily mean that justice is being done.

There’s another thing I came across recently. Those of us who have been brought up in the Christian faith have been told over and over again that we should love one another, that we should base our whole being on love and that we should love our neighbours in the same way that we expect them to love us. Until last week, I was under the impression that love is the most important concept that is mentioned in the Bible.

But, you know what? In the Bible, the word “love” is mentioned just over 100 times, whereas the word “justice” is mentioned more than 400 times. To me, this great difference in numbers must have a deeper meaning. In simple terms, if the Church puts so much emphasis on love, which is mentioned 100 times, what should it do about justice then, which is present four times as much?

Maybe it’s easier to love than do justice.

And we see it happening around us day after day. Not only in the Law Courts. Even in our everyday life it often happens that rules are followed, but no sense of justice prevails.

In the eyes of the law, everyone is equal. But, is it really so? Does a wage earner have the same means to defend himself in court as a multi-millionaire who can employ the best lawyers and their resources? The law is applied both for the wage earner and the millionaire, but is it the same justice?

Is that person who has been going to court several times a year for six or seven years to defend his case in the same boat as that other person whose case is fast-tracked because it needs to be decided quickly? Again, the law is applied in both cases, but is it fair that one case takes three months, maybe less, and the other seven years, or more?

If a common mortal is charged with some offence in court will he get the same consideration by the judge or magistrate as that other person who may be more well-known and well-connected? The answer should be yes, but is it so?

Does the name of the person being charged in court make a difference to the magistrate or judge? It should not, but is it so?

Does justice really prevail if an intelligent lawyer points out a technicality that ends up in the release of a murderer? How many times do we see it happen that guilty people escape punishment because of a document filed at the wrong time? And how many innocent people spend years in jail because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but had nothing to do with the crime and were not defended properly?

Yes, the law is applied in all cases, but what about justice? A judge might give a different ruling on the same case than the one in the next courtroom simply because of a different way of seeing things. And people might think that justice has been done in a particular case while others think that an injustice was committed.

It is all a matter of perspective.

The same goes for our everyday life. Situations where rules are followed but injustices are committed abound. How often have we felt that we were at the wrong end of a decision that was taken but can do nothing about it? How often have we been blamed for something we did not do? How often have our justified complaints been put aside just because others have more influence? How often have we sought justice from higher authorities but were brushed aside because we are not as important as the people we complained about? How often have we not been believed even though we spoke the truth, while others lied and were rewarded for it?

No matter how hard we try, we are all imperfect. Our affiliations, personal upbringing, background and experience, and our relationships all influence us in our decisions and reactions.

After all, each and every one of us is just a man, which is not the same as being a just man.

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