ABSTRACT
In this chapter we are concerned with issues of social and economic justice. A striking feature of our society is its vast disparities in wealth, power and status. Are these disparities just? What moral principles should we use as the basis for our choice of legal institutions and arrangements to deal with social and economic inequality? Is it a legitimate goal of government to reduce poverty, using measures like progressive income and wealth taxes to redistribute resources from the wealthier to the poorer members of society? Or is it the case that there is a right to economic freedom which trumps all social goals, including the creation of a more just society, in which case any interference with economic freedom to reduce poverty would be difficult to justify or might not even be justifiable at all?
