46 THE ARTE OR CRAFTE OF RHETHORYKE
of Juftyce whiche is this/Juftyce is a morall vertue whereby men be the werkers of ryghtful thyng^/that is to lay / wherby they both loue & allb do fuch thinges as be Jufte. Thys done I ferche the caufe of [A vi b] Juftyce that is to faye irom whens it toke the fyrft begynning and bycaufe that it is a morall vertue and Plato in the ende of his dialogue Menon concludeth that all vertue commyth of god I am affured that god is the chefe caufe of Juftice declaring it to the worlde by his inftrument mannes wyt whiche the fame Plato affyrmythe in the begynning of hislawes. The definicyon and caufe had [,] I come to the thyrde place callid partes to knowe whether ther be but one kynde of Juftyce or els many. And for thys purpofe I fynde that Ariftotele in the .v. 2 of his ethikes deuideth Juftice in .ii. 3 fpeces or kyndes/one that hecalleth iuftice legitime or legall / and 4 an other whyche he called equyte. Juftyce legall / is that / that confifteth in the fuperyours whiche haue power to make or ftatute lawes to the inferiours / and the offyce or ende of thys Juftyce is to make fuche lawes as be bothe good and accordynge to ryght and confcience / and then to declare them / and when they are made and publyff hed as they ought to be / to fe that they be put in(e7 For what auayleth it to make neuer fo good lawes if they be nat obferuyd and kepte.
And fynally that the maker of the lawe apply his hole ftudye and mynde to the welth of his fubiectes and to the commune [A vii a] profyte of them. The other kynde of Juftice whiche men call equite is wherby a man nother 5 taketh nother 6 giueth / les nor more then he ought / but in gyuyng taketh good hede that euery man haue accordyng as he deferuith : This equite 7 is agayne diuided into equite diftributyue of cowmune thynges & equite Cowmutatyue / ^f By equite diftributyue is diftributyd & gyuen of Commune goodes to euery man accordyng to his deferuinges & as he is worthy to haue. As to deuyde amonges fuche as longe to the churche of the churche goodes after the qualyte of theyr merytes, and to them that be cyuyle 8 perfones of the commune tresour of the cyjte accordynge as they are worthy. In this parte is comprehendyd the punyfhment of myfdoers and tranfgreffours of
1 B. thynges. 5 B. neyther.
2 B. fyfte. 6 B. nor. 3B. two. 7 B. Equitie.
4 B. omits and. 8 B. to them beynge Ciuil.
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