Justice

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue. Likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is not made right by greater goods shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by a larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in just society liberties of equal citizenship are taken A's settled; rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining, or to calculus of social interests. The only thing that permit us to acquiesce an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one. Analogously an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary for avoiding even greater injustice. A's first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising.

A theory of justice, Rawls, p3.