14th February 2023
My latest essay over at Substack for those who kindly support my blogging is on lore rather than case law: the figure of Lady Justice.
You can read it here.
You can also read last week’s essay, on the case of Jane Wenham and the last of the English witch trials.
Other essays include (in chronological order of the subject):
Dr Bonham’s case (1610) – and the question of whether parliament is really sovereign
Taff Vale (1901) – perhaps the most important case in trade union history
Wednesbury (1948) – the origin of the modern principle of legal unreasonableness
Malone (1979) – perhaps the most significant constitutional case of the last 50 years
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These essays for paying subscribers are in addition to my free-to-read, topical law and policy commentary every weekday.
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"A decision so unreasonable that not reasonable authority could have come to it"@davidallengreen has always been compulsory reading for anybody interested in law.
At this rate, his Substack will deliver a de-facto law degree by itself. Incredible work. https://t.co/tr9lFfHapm pic.twitter.com/9kmKbvVK6F
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) January 15, 2023
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I can’t leave a comment over there, but to do justice (ha!) to this sort of topic, you might want to look at depictions of Maat (with her feather), and Themis (and Dike) and Nemesis, and Justitia (a consciously invented Roman goddess, often depicted on early coins seated with a sceptre and patera) and Aequitas (that is, the Roman goddess of equity paralleling law, with scales and cornucopia), and then, jumping forward about 1500 years to the Renaissance, the impact of Cesare Ripa’s “Iconologia”. You’ve also drawn the clear parallel with Saint Michael.
I’ve seen it suggested that the blindfold started as an addition by Durer, as a satirical comment on the lack of justice enacted in her name.
It seems to me that the modern depiction of “Lady Justice” is an amalgam of these historical traditions.
I am fully aware of them, as I hope would have been indicated by the references! But there is only so much that can be put in a readable post – and the objective of the essays is not to show off the extent of my knowledge and research, but to provide something interesting for others to read and think about.
(And if you look carefully, you will see Maat I think in one of the illustrations.)
The blindfold does puzzle me and, as you suggest, Lady Justice is now an amalgam.
No criticism intended: more scratching my own itch to understand context. And I agree, the trick is often knowing when to stop.
For the readers at home, here is a typical coin showing Justitia (no sword, or scales, or blindfold):
* https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_THO-II-1344
And one showing Aequitas (scales, perhaps to measure out equally the fruits of her cornucopia):
* https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1896-0608-57
It may be just my own ignorance, but I find it fascinating to discover that the Romans already had “law” and “equity” as parallel concepts.
Here is the image from the 1494 “Ship of Fools” (Narrenschiff) attributed to Durer that seems to have introduced the blindfold, although I’d be interested to see an earlier example:
* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:D%C3%BCrer_-_Das_Narrenschiff_002.jpg
And an illustration of “Justice” from an edition of Ripa from 1610:
* https://archive.org/details/nouaiconologia00ripa/page/222/mode/1up
Interestingly, the sword is an attribute of “injustice.”
* https://archive.org/details/nouaiconologia00ripa/page/258/mode/1up
Your Egyptian image shows Anubis weighing a dead person’s heart against Maat’s feather, but not Maat herself as far as I can see. Images of the judgment scene from the Book of the Dead – the weighing of the heart – are pretty variable, but here is an example with dozens of feather-wielding gods, and a feather-headed goddess on the far right:
* https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10479-6
Perhaps the deceased was a lawyer.
And for St Michael, you have this sort of thing in the 12th century:
* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BL_Harley_624,_f._134v_-_Michael_and_the_dragon.jpg
Which becomes this sort of thing by the early 1300s
* https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/635
That is probably more than enough, so I’ll stop there :)
As with all things, Andrew, getting the right balance is good :-)
David and Andrew, I enjoyed the whole panoply provided by the two of you. Before the full blog I had started researching statues and paintings myself. I didn’t know Old Lady Bailey had holes in her scales. I particularly liked the Middlesbrough lot and the same sex embrace of the Statue of Liberty! Blindness is altogether a fascinating topic – King Lear, H G Wells, the Country of the Blind, etc.
Andrew, I can’t work out why one of your Justices has a frog (or toad) in her left hand.
I fear that is Ripa’s personification of “Injustice” (Ingiustitia) with a toad (rospo) in her left hand.
My Italian is not quite good enough for a proper translation, but I think the text describes are several different types of “Justice” (Giustitia). The illustration shows one with a crown, but elsewhere I see references to a blindfold (occhi bentati) and a sword (spada) and scales (bilancie or bilancia).
Sorry, that should be “occhi bendati”. I told you my Italian was not so good. :)
Thank you. I was trying to see it on my too-small mobile. I hadn’t spotted “Ingiustitia” or “rospo”. Many years ago I was fluent in Italian. I can still make out that her stained white clothing shows not just injustice but corruption and a stained soul from overturning law which is why the scales are trampled under her feet. There’s also something about only seeing properly with her left eye, the one looking at the toad.