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What does "two-way justice" mean? Can I use it to describe a relationship between two people (without considering the role of gender) in which there is a complete equality in behaviors and reactions?

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    I think this question with its current title is Not Constructive, since two-way justice isn't an established term with a defined meaning. That link finds only 10 written instances in Google Books, within which it's clearly used with several different senses - a judicial system treating different social groups differently, or any arrangement whereby two parties mutually deliver "justice" to the other, for example.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:21
  • Thanks for expressing your idea however I disagree with you. I will make a topic in meta to find what constructive question mean to help you make clear some ambiguous terms like this which you use here a lot and it may confuse many non English speakers.
    – Persian Cat
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:27
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    If your question was titled something like Is there a common term for "complete equality in the quality of behaviors and reactions", I wouldn't have a problem. But as it stands, you appear to be asking for the "meaning" of a term which is effectively non-existent, and therefore doesn't have an established meaning.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:49
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    If you'd linked to a specific instance of someone using the term "two-way justice", and asked what it meant, I'd have probably said it was Too Localised, on the grounds that it's only used 10 times (with conflicting senses) in Google Books. But as I said, if you'd asked for a term to describe what you apparently have in mind, I'd have upvoted StoneyB's mutual respect as the obvious choice, given that there are over 1,000,000 written instances of that in my link.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 22:45
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    Don't try to read too much into the meaning of "too localized" or "not constructive". Those are simply multiple choice options. When someone tells you your question seems too localized, or general reference, instead of arguing with them, invest that energy into improving your question. And don't be insulted – even highly ranked users get questions closed from time to time. No one is lambasting you, they are simply addressing this particular question.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Feb 15, 2013 at 9:17

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Just and justice, at least in US use, tend to be restricted to talk about law, or systems like the legal system. They are not ordinarily be used with respect to personal relationships; there, fair and fairness are more likely.

Better terms for what you are trying to express might be mutual fairness or mutual respect.

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  • Look at this for example: knowledge.sagepub.com/view/criminal-and-social-justice/n2.xml. Justice as a two-way street.
    – Persian Cat
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:10
  • @user37324 Note that the book is referring to criminal and social justice. Criminal justice is, as StoneyB suggested, a legal matter. Social justice is also related to legal issues, though in a somewhat different way; where criminal justice refers to a broken law, social justice generally refers to a broken social system that is harming many people. In both cases, the word "justice" is used to refer to larger issues, either dealing with the law or dealing with widespread problems affecting many people. Justice is rarely used to discuss personal relationships.
    – Ken Bellows
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:38
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    @user37324 You can use it any way you want. Your hearer(s) or reader(s) will understand you to be making an analogy to law and social institutions; if that's what you want, you're fine. But it's your hearers who decide what you mean, not you.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 14:58
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    @user37324 Any time you employ indirection or irony you are inviting misunderstanding--literally inviting it for rhetorical effect. Questions on this site should be directed toward literal meanings, or unambiguous ironies; questions about utterances of the sort you describe are inherently Not Constructive.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 15:21
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    @user37324 Language is a dangerous toy to play with.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Feb 14, 2013 at 15:38

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