Fairness in International Law and Institutions Franck, Thomas M. Fairness in International Law and Institutions . Oxford University Press, 1995. This book is a combination of a philosophical analysis of international law and a review of the main subjects of the law of nations in the light of that analysis. The author is of the opinion that international law has reached an advanced stage of maturity and specialization. Hence, there is no longer a need to defend its very existence.
Legitimacy is procedural fairness.
It expresses the preference for order and stability and the belief that for a system of rules to be fair, it must be firmly rooted in a framework of formal requirements about how rules are made, interpreted and applied. Distributive justice, on the other hand, is substantive fairness. It expresses the need for a justifiable distribution of costs and benefits, and usually favours change. Distributive justice is rooted in the subjective, relative moral values of the community. Legitimacy and justice may coincide, but they may also clash.