The idea of justice appears to me so much a truth of the first order, to which the whole universe has given its assent, that the greatest crimes which afflict society are all committed under the false pretence of justice. The greatest of all crimes, at least that which is the most destructive, and consequently the most opposite to the design of nature is war; but there never was an aggressor who did not gloss over his guilt with the pretext of justice.
The Ignorant Philosopher (chapter XXXI1, paragraph 6) Voltaire (1694-1778)
