Editing Justice (section)

===Equality and Equality before the law===
{{Main|Equal opportunity}}
In political theory, liberalism includes two traditional elements: liberty and equality. Most contemporary theories of justice emphasize the concept of equality, including Rawls' theory of justice as fairness. For Ronald Dworkin, a complex notion of equality is the sovereign political virtue.<ref>(Ronald Dworkin, Sovereign Virtue (Harvard University Press, 2000)</ref> Dworkin raises the question of whether society is under a duty of justice to help those responsible for the fact that they need help. Complications arise in distinguishing matters of choice and matters of chance, as well as justice for future generations in the redistribution of resources that he advocates.{{sfn|Kim|2015|loc=Chapter 7}}

Law raises important and complex issues about equality, fairness, and justice. There is an old saying that 'All are equal before the law'. The belief in equality before the law is called legal egalitarianism. In criticism of this belief, the author [[Anatole France]] said in 1894, "In its majestic equality, the law forbids [[rich and poor alike]] to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread."<ref>(France, ''The Red Lily'', [http://www.online-literature.com/anatole-france/red-lily/8/ Chapter VII]).</ref> With this saying, France illustrated the fundamental shortcoming of a theory of legal equality that remains blind to social inequality; the same law applied to all may have disproportionately harmful effects on the least powerful.