Article October 3, 2005 Issue

DOES JUSTICE HAVE A SPIRITUAL BASIS? WE ASK AN ATTORNEY

Warren Bolon with contributions from AL GEMRICH

After more than four decades of law practice—handling everything from construction law to divorces, from commercial and real estate practice to estates, trusts, and tax litigation—AL GEMRICH has found that law and justice are based on universal concepts, and have deep spiritual and religious roots. Borrowing a phrase from Jesus, Gemrich says that at the end of the day, the law is about looking out for "the least of these my brethren." Gemrich is graduate of Yale University Law School, and currently practise corporate law in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He talked recently with the Sentinel's Warren Bolon.

You told me earlier about a judge who was known to say, "Remember, this is a court of law, not a court of justice." Does justice have a deeper basis for you?

Justice does have a deeper basis. I think everybody has an innate idea of justice, and that is something which motivates all of the great improvements in the law. The law is a human institution, but as Mary Baker Eddy once wrote, "...let human justice pattern the divine" (Science and Health, p.542). In law school, they always used to talk about the rule and the counter rule. For every principle, it seemed like there was a counter principle. At some higher level, the matter would be resolved. The judge could then select that rule which provided justice. So there were competing ideas within the human structure of law, but that structure was designed to eventually acquire the higher sense of justice.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

DOES JUSTICE HAVE A SPIRITUAL BASIS? WE ASK AN ATTORNEY

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access