The three principles of justice outlined in the chapter are discussed below:

(i)First, one of the principle in the principle of treating equals equally. It is considered that all individuals share certain characteristics as human beings. Therefore they deserve equal rights and equal treatment. Some of the important rights which are granted to most liberal democracies today include civil rights such as the rights of life, liberty and property, political rights like the right to vote, which enable people to participate in political processes and certain social rights which would include the right to enjoy equal opportunities with other members of the society.

(ii)Second, apart from the equal rights, the principle of treating equals equally would require that people should not be discriminated against on grounds of class, caste, race or gender. They should be judged on the basis of their work and actions and not on the basis of group to which they belong.

Therefore, if two persons from different castes participate in the same type of work, whether it be breaking stores or delivering pizzas they should receive the same type of reward.

If a person gets one hundred rupees for some work and another receives only seventy five rupees for same work because they belong to different castes, then it would be unfair or unjust.

Similarly if a male teacher in a school gets a higher salary than a female teacher, then this difference would also be unjustifiable and wrong.

(iii)Third, Equal treatment is not the only principle of justice. There could be circumstances in which we might feel that treating everybody equally would be unjust. How, for example, would you react if it was decided in your school that all those who did an exam should get equal marks because they are all students of the same school and did the same exam? Here you might think it would be more fair if students are awarded makes according to the quality of their answer papers and also possibly, the degree of effort they had put in. In other words, provides everybody starts from the same base line of equal rights/ Justice in such cases would mean rewarding people in proportion to the scale of and equality of their effort.

Danger of working conditions should also be considered when a labourer or work is being rewarded for his work or job.