Justice, Mercy and the Law

Throughout these past dying weeks of Theresa Schindler-Schiavo, the legal scholars have reiterated that the courts were following the law when they sentenced her to death by dehydration. They told us that there was no legal way, for the courts, to show mercy for those who wanted to save the life of a mentally disabled person. If it is true, as the scholars say, that the law can show no mercy, how can it be justice? The answer is, there is no justice, for "Justice without mercy is cruelty," taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.

No Mercy, No Justice: "Justice and mercy work beautifully together, and make no sense apart. Justice leads up to mercy, and mercy picks up where justice ends. Justice that does not allow for mercy is cold and inhuman. Mercy that does not presume justice is irresponsible and sentimental."

Thomas Aquinas said that mercy "does not destroy justice, but is a certain kind of fulfillment of justice. ..Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; (and) justice without mercy is cruelty."
[Schiavo, justice, law]