The Constitution and social justice

Law and justice are not the same thing:

• The essence of law is force: a law is a rule backed by the power of the state to punish those who break it.
• The essence of justice is fairness: treating people as they deserve.

A law can be unjust; the hope is that laws move closer to justice over time.

The Constitution is India's basic norm: the highest law, from which all other laws and all authorities get their power. Any law that goes against it can be struck down.

The Supreme Court is the highest court and the ultimate interpreter of the Constitution: it decides what the Constitution's words mean.

Over the years, the Court has expanded the meaning of many rights. The best example is Article 21, the right to life. It once seemed to mean only that the state could not kill you without legal process. The Court ruled that 'life' means more than bare animal existence: it means a life with dignity. So Article 21 now includes the rights to:

• livelihood (a means of earning a living);
• health and medical care;
• shelter;
• education;
• living with dignity.

Other examples:

• The right to information was read into Article 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression), because you cannot speak freely without information.
• Equal pay for equal work was read into Article 14 (equality before the law).

Such new readings often follow pressure from social movements, which bring injustices to the courts' attention. So the Constitution can extend the meaning of justice as society changes.