ABSTRACT
The key idea of procedural fairness lies in the injunction “Treat people differently only in cases where there is a difference that actually makes a difference in some contextually appropriate regard.” The idea of impartiality plays a pivotal role in fairness. Fairness arises in two contexts, namely fairness-to and fairness-that. Fairness-to is more fundamental than fairness-that. Fairness, then, is a matter of the suitable honouring of appropriate claims. Fairness involves the equitable distribution of material and immaterial resources alike. One of the salient elements of fairness is thus that identically situated people should be treated identically. In general, fairness proceeds in abstraction from the personal, idiosyncratic values and preferences of individuals. The paramount consideration for fairness as an aspect of justice is not just how an individual fares in relation to his own claims but how he fares in relation to the rest of the claimants.
