Justice and Society

Is justice possible?  Do we believe the rule of law good because it is just, or is it just because we think it is good?  To what degree is our understanding of justice determined by the laws under which we live?  Are there certain universal requirements that any just law or constitution must fulfil?  While such questions are not confined to liberal democracy, and are as old as the political order itself, many commentators today believe that fundamental concepts of justice are failing to be incorporated into our social, economic and political arrangements.

John Rawls, the foremost theorist in the moral philosophy of justice, argues that 'justice is the first virtue of social institutions... and the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or the calculus of social interests'.  According to Rawls, it is impossible to have a just society without a base of guaranteed moral rights.  Is this true?  What are those guaranteed moral rights?

Through this important Symposium, The Cranlana Programme offers senior participants from federal and state governments, the judiciary, the private sector, the churches and community organisations the opportunity to explore the meaning of justice in the contemporary world, the basic issues that frame life in a civilised democratic society, and ways by which individuals and their governments should approach fundamental questions of justice.

Date for the Justice and Society Symposium is:

Professor Martin Krygier and Dr David Neal SC will moderate on this occasion.

We are delighted that Chief Justice Michael Rozenes will be the keynote speaker at the symposium dinner, which will be held on the evening of Thursday 2 December 2010. Chief Justice Rozenes is an alumnus of the Cranlana Programme Justice and Society Symposium and will share his reflections on justice in Australian society.