The concept of justice in the works of Isidore of Seville

The article is dedicated to the Latin concepts aequitas and iustitia in the works of Isidore of Seville. The “first Encyclopedic mind of the Middle Ages”, Isidore was guided in his works (the “Etymologies”, “Differences” and “Sentences”, studied in this article) by the Roman legal tradition as well as the Christian tradition of use of these concepts. According to Isidore, justice (iustitia) is related to the written law (ius); this word is primarily used with reference to mundane justice and legislation. In the same time it may be a just legal order, established by God, and in this sense iustitia is partly associated with aequitas. On the contrary, an equity (aequitas) is based on natural law (ius naturale) and signifies the primordial order, natural and obvious to everyone. It's main feature is equality of all the people. Nevertheless (even in the same Isidore's works) the concepts of aequitas and iustitia look like interchangeable synonyms: the original distinction between them disappears little by little, as long as God is accepted to be an ultimate source for both iustitia and aequitas and a passage in the “Differences” I.32 (68) appears a mere scholastic exercise in distinguishing the concepts which no longer differ in practice.