Justice

This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Proverbs 16:6 By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

The reason that I put these two quotes together is to make a point that we can not expect justice when we don't have truth. It is particularly unreasonable to see this in a courtroom where a judge is at the mercy of a couple lawyers orchestrating events. Stripped of an ability to investigate, justice can not be found.

I agree with this advice

Matthew 5: 25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.[d]

Sometimes I have punished my children with mercy. In other words I explain what they did wrong, make them take responsibility, but then do not inflict any punishment. I want to let them know how it feels to receive mercy so that perhaps they will be willing to offer mercy.

Here is an interesting story of one who did not have mercy after receiving mercy

Matthew 18:23"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[g] was brought to him. 25Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii.[h] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

We are in a grave world crisis now and much of it deals with how we will collectively deal with our debts, the one's we owe and those who owe us. Perhaps if as children we had thought about mercy and been offered more mercy, we could make better judgments. Obviously too much mercy makes us irresponsible, too little makes us bitter. Somehow we need to blend the two together to make a healthy beverage which we can drink every day so we can have a just world.