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Mercy and Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

John Kleinig
Affiliation:
Macquarie University

Abstract

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Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1969

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References

1 In her recent article on Mercy, Philosophy, vol. XLIII, 1968, pp. 345–59.Google Scholar

2 Numerous examples are to be found in the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1949–1953 Report, Cmd. 8932, London: H.M.S.O., 1953, §39.Google Scholar

3 Only on some broader conception of mercy such as I have suggested can we make any sense of the notion of ‘mercy killing’ or of the idea that for some people death is a ‘merciful release’.

4 I am assuming that justice is fundamentally a case of giving ‘to every man his due’ and that the giving of deserts is just one specific form of justice.