Appendix D: Visual Depictions of the Meaning of Justice
| Author | Roger S. Fisher |
| Pages | 309-319 |
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APPENDIX
D
}•
Visual
Depictions
of
the
Meaning
of
Justice
ALTHOUGH
LAW
CAN
exist
in
an
oral
culture,
the
law
has
been
associated
with
written
texts
almost
from
the
first
invention
of
writing,
which
may
explain
why
the
law
is
so
often
equated
with
the
written
word.
Law
may
be
suspicious
of
the
open-ended
images
of
works
of
art
and
may
quietly
fear
the
irrational,
but
law
cannot
remove
itself
from
the
cultural
contexts
in
which
it
is
generated
or
from
the
human
minds
that
conceive
of
it.
Sig
mund
Freud
recognized
the
role
of
emotion
in
law
in
his
famous
essay
on
Michelangelos
statue
in
Rome
depicting
Moses
delivering
the
Ten
Com
mandments
to
the
Israelites.
1
The
sculpture
captures
the
moment
when
Moses
is
just
returning
from
the
mountain
with
the
tablets
of
the
law.
It
is
a
moment
of
drama,
a
performance
of
the
promulgation
of
the
law.
The
sculpture
also
captures
Moses
’
s
reaction
to
the
sight
of
the
Israelites
wor
shipping
the
golden
calf.
Michelangelo
captures
the
drama
of
the
moment
when
the
tablets
are
just
beginning
to
slip
from
Moses
’
s
grasp,
reflecting
the
law
’
s
suspicion
of
images
and
inability
to
comprehend
the
irrational.
We
know
that
the
tablets
are
about
to
fall
to
the
ground
and
be
smashed
to
pieces
and
that
God
will
have
to
supply
new
tablets
to
replace
the
ori
ginal
ones
(which
are
forever
lost,
leaving
open
to
question
whether
the
law
changed
when
God
promulgated
the
replacements).
In
this
narrative
moment,
we
see
law
in
its
traditional
association
with
writing
and
with
royal
power
—
God
meeting
Moses
on
the
mountain
being
synonymous
with
the
monarchs
who
ruled
the
empires
of
the
Fertile
Crescent
from
[309]
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