Note 64 — Chapter II · THE ORIGIN OF PUNISHMENTS—THE RIGHT OF PUNISHMENT.

Note that the word Right is not opposed to the word Force; but the former is rather a modification of the latter; that is, the modification most advantageous to the greater number. And by justice I mean nothing else than the chain which is necessary for holding together private interests and preventing their breaking away into the original state of insociability.

One must be careful not to attach to this word Justice the idea of anything real, as of a physical force or an independent entity; it is only a human mode of thinking, a mode that has unbounded influence over each one’s happiness. Still less do I mean that other kind of justice that has emanated from God, and has its immediate connection with the penalties and rewards of a future life.