ABSTRACT
In an ideal society, violence will meet with adequate retaliation because nonviolence is a necessary condition for freedom and when violence is committed the condition no longer exists. The freedom thus broken cannot be restored except in some cases by forgiveness and reparation. The reparation or compensation asked should never entail a sacrifice out of proportion to the harm the victim has suffered, that is, should never be punitive. The necessary elements of a judicial system for an ethically inspired society, where the principles of reparation and social self-defense supersede completely the concept of punishment. If a tort is committed and society fails to obtain reparation, it is as if society did not consider the tort as a tort or the injured person as one of its members. Society has no power to give back a murdered man his life, but if it declines responsibility toward his fate, its institutions cannot be trusted with the safety of any of its members.
