The shape of this goddess is actually mixed. In ancient Greek mythology, the goddess of justice and order was themis. According to the chronology of the gods, she was the daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), and later became the second wife of Zeus, the god of Olympus. The original meaning of her name is "the earth", and she escaped to "creation", "stability" and "firmness" and had a relationship with the law. In early mythology, Simis was the god who explained the prophecy. It is said that she was in charge of the temple of Delphi and explained the Oracle, which was later given to Apollo. She is also responsible for maintaining the order of Mount Olympus and supervising the execution of the ceremony. In ancient Greek sculpture, her image is a woman with a serious expression and a balance in her hand. Her daughters with Zeus include Hera (goddess of time sequence), Omiya (goddess of order), Dick (goddess of justice), Eris (goddess of peace) and Mo Yi (goddess of fate). They shared her responsibilities. Among them, dice has the closest relationship with law. It is said that the goddess of justice holds the key to the door of day and night, monitors human life, and upholds justice when the soul circulates. She often chased criminals with swords and assassinated blasphemers. Her figure is usually a formidable woman with a sword or stick. Another goddess of justice often mentioned in ancient Greek mythology is the righteous god star, who presided over justice on the ground and rose to the sky as the main star of Virgo, pure and flawless. Her style is a pure girl, much more tolerant than the above two. Later, the Romans accepted Greek gods and mixed them with Roman gods. During the Roman Empire, some concepts were personified and many gods were "created", including Justitia and Acqiale. The shapes of these goddesses are mixed with the images of Greek goddesses, such as Simis, Dyke and Yi Shen Xing. Usually holding a balance or a balance and a sword.
During the Renaissance at the end of the Middle Ages in Europe, while the Greek and Roman arts were revived, Roman law was also revived. Statues of Justicia, the goddess of justice, began to appear on the eaves of various city courts. These statues follow the style of ancient Rome, holding a sword in one hand and a balance in the other, and give a new explanation: the balance means "fairness", the sword means "justice", the forehead means "honesty" and closing your eyes means "observing with your heart". The back of the statue is often engraved with the ancient Roman proverb: "In order to achieve justice, even if the earth were to fall apart".
The western goddess of justice/justice is passive, waiting for the rabbit, preemptive. It only uses the scale to measure the evidence presented by both parties to the lawsuit, and which party will win the case with sufficient evidence; Either party will lose the case with insufficient evidence, and will be punished with swords and shadows. Her duty is to "judge" rather than discover, so her eyes are not important. Even if she opens her eyes too wide, she will get into trouble. She may be subjective because she sees the situation of both parties to the lawsuit, or it may be difficult to achieve justice because of various interferences. As the legal proverb behind her shows, she will do whatever it takes to achieve justice.
Myths and legends actually reflect the reality of the world. In ancient Greece and Rome, many courts were meetings of the people, or were composed of a group of citizens decided by lot. When the court decides a case, it is a bit like a passerby who was temporarily dragged to trial. It does not actively collect or investigate evidence, but only judges which side is telling the truth according to the evidence submitted by both sides. As judges, members of the conference often know nothing about the case before the trial begins. They all rely on the trial process to understand the situation, and even rely on invited jurists to explain the law and understand the applicable law. Therefore, the court pays attention to weighing the evidence of both parties, confirming the facts and realizing fairness and justice. After Rome, the highest magistrate was set up to handle civil litigation. With the help of jurists, he still pays attention to the measurement and identification of the evidence of litigants and does not intervene in the investigation. The myth reflects that Simis holds the balance. In major criminal cases, some people will be appointed to form committees to collect evidence, find criminals and submit suspects to the court for trial and judgment. This may be the source of Dyke, the goddess of justice.
The above situation lasted for a long time in Europe. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes ruled Western Europe, and their courts were mostly gatherings of tribal adult men, still playing the role of temporary justice. The medieval legal proverb "No plaintiff, no judge" is such a situation. After the centralization of power in various kingdoms was gradually strengthened, there was a mechanism to find criminals and collect evidence. For example, King Henry II of England promulgated the "Clarington Imperial Decree" in 1 164, which stipulated that the royal judge should call 12 witnesses unrelated to the lawsuit in the circuit trial, provide evidence to the court under oath, and determine the facts by consensus. This is the source of the jury later. 1 166, the king issued another imperial edict, stipulating that all major crimes, such as assassination, arson, banditry, robbery, harboring criminals, forging currency documents, etc. It should be prosecuted by jurors or local county magistrate and hundreds of households when the royal judge visits the local area. 1275, Britain officially stipulated that major criminal cases should be investigated by juries, and evidence should be collected and submitted to the court. The imperial edict of Edward III in 1352 further stipulates that all jurors involved in the investigation and evidence collection of a case shall not participate in the trial of the case, but only participate in the lawsuit as the prosecution, and the authenticity of their testimony shall be confirmed by the unanimous opinion of the other 12 jurors. In this way, a prosecution jury or a "grand jury" and a special trial jury or a "small jury" specializing in investigation and evidence collection have been formed. Adjudication and discovery are still separate.
The development of Central Europe is similar to that of Britain. 12 and 13 centuries, royal prosecutors were established in various kingdoms to investigate and prosecute major crimes. With the strengthening of centralization, the functions and powers of prosecutors have gradually expanded. /kloc-In the 5th century, the "Policeii" law on maintaining social order appeared in Germany. Later, this word was used to refer to the specialized government agencies and their personnel who carried out these laws, thus becoming the source of the word "police" in later Western European languages. After monitoring and discovering the above-mentioned crimes against laws and regulations, these government offices can file a "Polizeisache" lawsuit with the court instead of the original "Justizsache".
The long-term separation between "finding a crime" and "judging a case" in the western cultural tradition has made this blindfolded image of the goddess of justice last for a long time until the present age.