The Very Idea of Justice
A Theologian’s Reflection on Plato, the Trump Trial in New York City, and the Mutation of English Law
Good ideas are copies of an original and more excellent Form. Morally good Form promotes socially good Function. Thus, morally good Actions are copies of an original Idea or Conception. Good in the observable world is a genetic offspring of the good in the unseen realms. This is the Ideal we aim for as human beings. This is Plato’s philosophical assertion (c. 428–c. 348 BC).1
Forces of Good
In his pre-Christian, non-Judaic thought, Plato recognized that there is a Good, an Idea, a “logos,” a metaphysical reality that precedes and gives birth to the copy. The copy is sensible; that is, it is something we can observe in time and space. Thus, inalienable rights, for Plato, are an Ideal. “Justice” is, likewise, a “universal” Truth. The United States Constitution is a sensible copy of a Logos, an Idea, an original Form. Plato recognized that nascent evil (or even disinterest) creates earthly forces that corrupt the physical child of the metaphysical Idea. Logos exists whether we seek the innate power that is available or not.
Of course, Platonic ruminations, however ingenious, were incomplete. Thankfully, Western Civilization was built over time, and our understanding of first things, viz., universals, was clarified by the Christian faith (as the Messianic fulfillment of the Judeo religion always intended for all tribes and tongues). Thus, the Logos is not an it, but a He. For the “Logos became flesh.” Thus, for the Christian worldview that held European civilization together for nearly two millennia, the Logos, Jesus Christ, is the fullness of God and the Word made flesh. He is not a copy of a Word. He is the Word. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
So, move with me to another thought: the presence and activity forces of evil.
Forces of Evil
The Word, i.e., the Logos, is unchangeable and incorruptible. Not so our humble attempts to glorify the Logos in our lives, communities, and institutions. For all things must pass in this world. “Meaning?” This means that sin entered the world by disobedience to our first parents (reacting to the diabolical intervention and their volitional choices). The banishment from Eden and the universal cosmological decay that followed the Fall and Paradise Lost introduced “entropy:” things fall apart over time. Again, Form is not subject to entropy, but functions are. For instance, we will say that the Founding Fathers were zealous for liberty. Their great-grandchildren, not as much. In that case, a functioning human government may give way to the degrading forces of this “present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). In asserting this, we are positing that distance from the Ideal asserted and embraced (e.g., the Spirit of 1776) times hostile forces (e.g., apathy, the rise of Statism) equals an entropic result. It is an equation with numerous variables but a sobering simplicity. This phenomenon can occur in biology as well. For example, mutations of a hideous variety can accumulate through the generations until, at length, there is a severe breakdown of the essential variables that constitute a healthy living thing. The imperishable Idea of life gives birth to copies of itself. Thus, the Logos created life and said that it was good, and, we might say, a cat or a horse was born. However, essential parts of the copy (of the imperishable Idea) mutate over time. Eventually, the mutations multiply and assemble like a ferocious army of evil. They overwhelm the copy of the Idea. And a kitten is stillborn; a foal limps.
Mutations
The Idea of justice is not up for sale or amendment. It is because it is. The ground of the Idea in Judeo-Christian thought is in God and, therefore, altogether good and altogether imperishable. Perhaps no other ethnicity or tribe in human history has done more to create a near-perfect copy of the Form of Law than the island nation of England. The Norman invasion of the British Isles (1066) came at an eventually high cost for the conquering elite. Henry II might have lost at Hastings, but Brittania had curated virtues of several previous occupiers that would converge into what Churchill would call “our Island race.” And that Anglo-Saxon spirit of the British Isles proved remarkably dissimilar to the Continental impulses. The English rejected Continental terms of monarchical governance of their fair land. After only three monarchs from William the Conqueror, the Anglo-Saxon people had enough of absolute monarchy. And so, at the threat of civil war, barons—landowners—represented the People and met with King John (reigned 1199–1216) “in the meadow called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines on the fifteenth day of June in the seventeenth year of our reign” (viz., 1215 AD). There, in 63 articles, the King had to recognize that governance could only proceed by the will of the governed. Moreover, the Barons would send representatives to ensure that the Magna Carta, the Great Charter of Liberty, was kept. Thus, parliament—the noble assembly of the representatives of the Governed—was born. And the world would never be the same.2
Central to the rights enumerated in the Magna Carta was a “fair trial” and a “competent court” (Article 39). Those like Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), in his monumental treatise on representative government by general and special revelation, Lex Rex (The Law is King), labored tirelessly to establish that the principle of righteous governance is, indeed, an untouchable Idea, an a priori, Form, and that requires a function that most nearly resembles the Idea.3
America is founded on the rich history of English common law, as are all of our states (with only Louisiana incorporating Napoleonic law from the non-English parishes). The history of America’s immigration laws reflects the priority of maintaining the United States as a nation resting on English law.4 Thus, this philosophy of law (we might even say “theology of law” in the English tradition) is now under threat. Every American should be concerned that the apparent suspension of our philosophy of law, i.e., English law, displayed for all to see at the recent trial of former President Trump in the Manhattan case, threatens our liberties. Regardless of your political sympathies, the blatant use of the levers of government for undeniable partisan goals against a former U. S. president and current choice for a general election by ballot of a majority of Republicans is a chilling chapter in American history.
Conclusion
One does not need to be a legal or Constitutional scholar (I am neither) to envision the Pandora’s Box of malevolent eventualities. Just the appearance of evil (in such a public case with such national issues at stake) can mark a devastating loss of confidence in the courts. As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) protested, one hopes the higher courts will immediately address this travesty. I pen these words to focus on the principle of English jurisprudence—the rule of law—and how that rule operates from a philosophical foundation rooted in Greek democracy and the Judeo-Christian worldview. The glaring appearance of the suspension of the rights of the Accused in favor of the State is an unholy departure from English law. The mutated “copy” of the imperishable Concept that we witnessed in the Manhattan trial was flawed not merely because it is bad law (again, I write as a legal layman, but with the concern of my vocation as a Citizen, and Christian) but because it did not spring from the Ideal that our founders cherished.
I began my service in the military as a top-secret naval intelligence linguist and analyst in the Cold War (intrestly, I finished my career forty-two years later on the General Staff of US Military Intelligence Readiness Command). I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at some of history's most wicked and oppressive regimes. Alarmingly, I recognized many tactics used in the Manhattan district attorney case against former President Trump as similar to the ones I witnessed in those nations that were locked behind the Iron Curtain. I am not alone in my comparisons. Whether I am correct or blinded by bias, this now infamous case marks a regrettable and extraordinary milestone in our history as a People. Yet, English law, distinct from other European forms and global theories and practices, establishes liberty without license and law without prejudice. The features of English law (in many ways a Christian application of the Mosaic code) reveal a rare and precious historical anomaly, as the default setting for human history is the despotic tyranny of the powerful in one form or another. Yet, we all know the truth: That which has been constructed over thousands of years can be destroyed in just a few. And, so, we must be alert. The forces of entropy are already at work before us. We must not only pray and work tirelessly to support the overturning of this recent and painful assize but also be vigilant to ensure that it can never happen again. The very idea of justice demands it.
Plato’s hierarchy of forms, a metaphysical reality governing physical functions, somewhat differs from Aristotle’s conception. Learn more at Sedley, David. “An Introduction to Plato’s Theory of Forms.” Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, vol. 78, 2016, pp. 3-22.
This specific artwork is an engraving by Alonzo Chappel (1828-1887), a notable American artist known for his historical paintings and engravings. Chappel created many works illustrating key historical moments, and this piece is one of his famous works capturing the signing of the Magna Carta.
This particular engraving was created around 1868, which aligns with the period when Chappel was most active in creating historical engravings. The image represented the pivotal moment in 1215 when King John agreed to the demands of his barons, which laid the foundation for constitutional governance in England.
I humbly ask the reader to consider the author’s version of Lex Rex in modern English with annotation and commentary. See, then, Michael A. Milton. Foundations of a Moral Government: Lex, Rex — A New Annotated Version in Contemporary English. Dallas: Fortress Book Service, 2019.
The essential commentary on English law remains A.V. Dicey’s The Law of the Constitution. United Kingdom: OUP Oxford, 2013 (from the original title in 1885, Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution).