equity, impartiality, legality, rightfulness, fairness, integrity, rectitude, truth, fair play, justness, right, uprightness, faithfulness, law, righteousness, virtue. honor, lawfulness,
In its governmental relations, human or divine, _justice_ is the giving to every person exactly what he deserves, not necessarily involving any consideration of what any other may deserve; _equity_ (the quality of being equal) is giving every one as much advantage, privilege, or consideration as is given to any other; it is that which is equally right or just to all concerned; _equity_ is equal _justice_ and is thus a close synonym for _fairness_ and _impartiality_, but it has a philosophical and legal precision that those words have not. In legal proceedings cases arise for which the _law_ has not adequately provided, or in which general provisions, just in the main, would work individual hardship. The system of _equity_, devised to supply the insufficiencies of _law_, deals with cases "to which the _law_ by reason of its universality can not apply." "_Equity_, then, ... is the soul and spirit of all _law_; positive _law_ is construed and rational _law_ is made by it." BLACKSTONE bk. iii, ch. 27, p. 429. In personal and social relations _justice_ is the rendering to every one what is due or merited, whether in act, word, or thought; in matters of reasoning, or literary work of any kind, _justice_ is close, faithful, unprejudiced, and unbiased adherence to essential truth or fact; we speak of the _justice_ of a statement, or of doing _justice_ to a subject. _Integrity_, _rectitude_, _right_, _righteousness_ and _virtue_ denote conformity of personal conduct to the moral law, and thus necessarily include _justice_, which is giving others that which is their due. _Lawfulness_ is an ambiguous word, meaning in its narrower sense mere _legality_, which may be very far from _justice_, but in its higher sense signifying accordance with the supreme _law_ of _right_, and thus including perfect _justice_. _Justness_ refers rather to logical relations than to practical matters; as, we speak of the _justness_ of a statement or of a criticism. See JUDGE, _n._
dishonesty, inequity, partiality, unlawfulness, untruth, favoritism, injustice, unfairness, unreasonableness, wrong.