Lady Justice - wikipedia Lady Justice For the British judicial office whose holders are sometimes referred to as `` Lady Justice '', see Lord Justice of Appeal. `` Justitia '' redirects here. For other uses, see Justitia ( disambiguation ). Justitia blindfolded and holding balance scales and a sword. Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong Lady Justice is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems. Her attributes are a blindfold, a balance, and a sword. She often appears as a pair with Prudentia, who holds a mirror and a snake. Lady Justice originates from the personification of Justice in Ancient Roman art known as Iustitia or Justitia after Latin : Iustitia, who is equivalent to the Greek goddesses Themis and Dike. Contents 1 The Goddess Iustitia 2 Depiction 2.1 Scales 2.2 Blindfold 2.3 Sword 2.4 Toga 3 Lady Justice in art 4 See also 5 References 6 External links The goddess Iustitia The origin of Lady Justice was Iustitia, the goddess of Justice within Roman mythology. Iustitia was introduced by emperor Augustus, and was thus not a very old deity in the Roman pantheon. Iustice was one of the virtues celebrated by emperor Augustus in his clipeus virtutis, and a Temple of Iustitia was established in Rome 8 January 13 CE by emperor Tiberius. Iustitia became a symbol for the virtue of justice that every emperor wished to associate his regime with ; emperor Vespasian minted coins with the image of the goddess seated on a throne called Iustitia Augusta, and many emperors after him used the image of the goddess to proclaim themselves protectors of justice. Though formally called a goddess with her own temple and cult shrine in Rome, it appears that she was from the onset viewed more as an artistic symbolic personification rather than as an actual deity with religious significance. Depiction This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( March 2015 ) The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead depicts a scene in which a scribe 's heart is weighed against the feather of truth. The personification of justice balancing the scales dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later goddesses of justice. Themis was the embodiment of divine order, law, and custom, in her aspect as the personification of the divine rightness of law. There are three distinctive features of Lady Justice : a set of scales, a blindfold, and a sword. Scales Lady Justice is most often depicted with a set of scales typically suspended from her left hand, upon which she measures the strengths of a case 's support and opposition. The depiction dates back to ancient Egypt, where the God Anubis was frequently depicted with a set of scales on which he weighed a deceased 's heart against the Feather of Truth. The Greek goddess Dike is also holding a set of scales. Bacchylides, Fragment 5 ( trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV ) ( Greek lyric C5th B.C. ) : If some god had been holding level the balance of Dike ( Justice ). The scales represent the weighing of evidence and are balanced to portray that the evidence should stand on its own. Blindfold 18th - century Lady Justice at the Castellania Since the 16th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents impartiality, the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power, or other status. The earliest Roman coins depicted Justitia with the sword in one hand and the scale in the other, but with her eyes uncovered. Justitia was only commonly represented as `` blind '' since about the end of the 15th century. The first known representation of blind Justice is Hans Gieng 's 1543 statue on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen ( Fountain of Justice ) in Berne. Instead of using the Janus approach, many sculptures simply leave out the blindfold altogether. For example, atop the Old Bailey courthouse in London, a statue of Lady Justice stands without a blindfold ; the courthouse brochures explain that this is because Lady Justice was originally not blindfolded, and because her `` maidenly form '' is supposed to guarantee her impartiality which renders the blindfold redundant. Another variation is to depict a blindfolded Lady Justice as a human scale, weighing competing claims in each hand. An example of this can be seen at the Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee. The cover of a 2006 issue of Rolling Stone proclaimed TIME TO GO !, focusing on the perceived corruption that dominated Congress. The drawing showed a bunch of figures evoking reactionary politics emerging from the Capitol. One of the figures was Lady Justice lifting her blindfold, implying that the then - composition of Congress had politicized the criminal justice system. It represents never favoring the strong nor the weak, the rich nor the poor, the righteous nor the wicked. Sword The last distinctive feature of Lady Justice is her sword. The sword represented authority in ancient times, and conveys the idea that justice can be swift and final. Toga The Greco - Roman garment symbolizes the status of the philosophical attitude that embodies justice. Lady Justice in art Justice in sculpture Lady Justice with sword, scales and blindfold on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen in Berne, Switzerland -- 1543 The Justice, in front of the Supreme Court of Brazil Lady Justice seated at the entrance of The Palace of Justice, Rome, Italy Sculpture of Lady Justice on the Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen ( Frankfurt ) ( de ) in Frankfurt, Germany Justitia, outside the Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada The Central Criminal Court or Old Bailey, London, UK Themis, Itojyuku, Shibuya - ku, Japan 19th - century sculpture of the Power of Law at Olomouc, Czech Republic -- lacks the blindfold and scales of Justice, replacing the latter with a book Themis, Chuo University, Tama - shi, Japan Themis, Chuo University Suginami high school, Suginami - ku, Japan The Law, by Jean Feuchère Shelby County Courthouse, Memphis, Tennessee, United States Justitia, Tehran courthouse, Tehran, Iran Themis, outside the Supreme Court of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Justice by Diana Moore, Government Center, Newark, New Jersey Justitia in the Superior Courts Building in Budapest, Hungary Justice in painting Fresco in the Sala di Costantino ( it ), Raphael Rooms, Raphael, c. 1520 Gerechtigkeit, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537 Luca Giordano, Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, 1684 -- 1686 Justitia ( Spitzweg ) ( de ), Carl Spitzweg, c. 1857 Lady Justice and her symbols are used in heraldry, especially in the arms of legal government agencies. Justice in heraldry Justitia in arms of Ilshofen in Baden - Württemberg Scales and sword in the arms of a Swedish court of law Scales balanced on a sword in the arms of Hörby Prudentia and Justitia as supporters in the armorial achievement of Landskrona Justice in numismatics Justice holding scales, $0.50 U.S. fractional currency. See also ( Goddesses of Justice ) : Astraea, Dike, Themis, Prudentia ( Goddesses of Injustice ) : Adikia ( Aspects of Justice ) : ( see also : Triple goddess / Triple goddesses / Triple deity / Triple Goddess ( neopaganism ) ) ( Justice ) Themis / Dike / Justitia ( Lady Justice ), Raguel ( the Angel of Justice ) ( Retribution ) Nemesis / Rhamnousia / Rhamnusia / Adrasteia / Adrestia / Invidia ( Redemption ) Eleos / Soteria / Clementia, Zadkiel / Zachariel ( the Angel of Mercy ) 5 Astraea, 24 Themis, 99 Dike and 269 Justitia, main belt asteroids all named for Astraea, Themis, Dike and Justitia, Classical goddesses of justice. Durga, Hindu goddess of justice Lady Luck Lady Liberty References Jump up ^ Hamilton, Marci. God vs. the Gavel, page 296 ( Cambridge University Press 2005 ) : `` The symbol of the judicial system, seen in courtrooms throughout the United States, is blindfolded Lady Justice. '' Jump up ^ Fabri, The challenge of change for judicial systems, page 137 ( IOS Press 2000 ) : `` the judicial system is intended to be apolitical, its symbol being that of a blindfolded Lady Justice holding balanced scales. '' ^ Jump up to : `` IUSTITIA ''. treccani.it. ^ Jump up to : Brent T. Edwards. `` Symbolism of Lady Justice ''. Retrieved 24 February 2017. Jump up ^ See `` The Scales of Justice as Represented in Engravings, Emblems, Reliefs and Sculptures of Early Modern Europe '' in G. Lamoine, ed., Images et representations de la justice du XVie au XIXe siecle ( Toulouse : University of Toulose - Le Mirail, 1983 ) '' at page 8. Jump up ^ Image of Lady Justice in Berne. Jump up ^ Image of Lady Justice in London. Jump up ^ Colomb, Gregory. Designs on Truth, p. 50 ( Penn State Press, 1992 ). Jump up ^ Image of Lady Justice in Memphis. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iustitia. DOJ Seal - History and Motto Origin of Lady of Justice Images of the Goddess of Justice Photos of Lady Justice ladyjusticesculpture.com VIAF : 25397147 GND : 118714368 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lady_Justice&oldid=816980147 '' Categories : Justice goddesses Personifications Roman goddesses Heraldic charges Hidden categories : Interlanguage link template link number Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Articles containing Latin - language text Articles needing additional references from March 2015 All articles needing additional references All articles lacking reliable references Articles lacking reliable references from February 2017 Commons category with local link different than on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Català Cebuano Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Latina Lietuvių Magyar Македонски Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Српски / srpski Svenska Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt Winaray 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 25 December 2017, at 05 : 20. 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Question: who is the woman holding the scales of justice
Answer: Lady Justice