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The arc of the moral universe is long and it bends towards justice.
——Dr Martin Luther King，Jr
Human beings are drawn to justice.Instinctively，we feel that justice should prevail.As children，we were in awe of the superheroes in DC Comics’ Justice League — Superman，Batman，Wonder Woman and others.
But what does justice really mean？ In a given scenario or dispute，what does justice require？ If we analyse and dissect the concept of justice，what are its essential parts and what are the constituent facets？
I suggest there are three basic notions of justice.As explained in the introduction for Part II，we are not talking about desirable characteristics of the law，such as clarity or comprehensibility；neither are we discussing the expectations of a good legal system，like affordability or expeditiousness.
Rather，the question is：When faced with a new scenario，what are the essential ideas to refer to as a lawmaker crafts law in the endeavour to administer justice？
Amongst the dozen or so notions，the following are the most fundamental：fairness，reasonableness and honesty.We shall consider each of the three basic notions as well as other notions in the following chapters.
Before that，a few points should be noted.
First，whilst each of the three notions has its own definition and central subscription（s），they tend to overlap.An aspect of a notion may be found in the list of descriptive terms in another notion.For example，honesty may overlap with fairness，just as reasonableness may overlap with fairness.
Indeed，in the widest sense，it may be said that fairness is the cornerstone of justice.
Secondly，out of a basic notion，there may spring subsidiary or associated notions.Fairness leads to other notions such as freedom and equality.Proportionality is associated with reasonableness.And honesty encompasses the notions of good faith and loyalty.And so on.
Thirdly，in grappling with a particular scenario，the law may combine more than one notion.Instances include “fair and reasonable” （exemption clauses in contracts），“free and fair” （as in elections），“true and fair” （as in financial accounts）and “honestly and reasonably” （as in a director’s defence for a breach of duty）.
As one stands underneath the whole panoply of the law — its dozen or so notions of justice，its scores of legal concepts and maxims and its hundreds and thousands of constituent pieces of law — it is reassuring that they have a common core.For one thing，it facilitates understanding.For another，it facilitates compliance.
Be fair，be reasonable and be honest.In so doing，by and large，you should be fine.