Lady Justice

Lady Justice holding her scales and sword is a familiar icon of Law. Many images of her also include a blindfold.

Goddess or lady, statues and paintings represent the spirit of Justice as a woman with the scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other. She is often wearing a blindfold, to show her impartiality. The image probably has roots in the Greek goddess Themis and the Roman goddess Justia. Lady Justice paintings and statues are common in the Western legal world. Often — as in the state flag of Virginia and in the Department of Justice statue — she has one breast partly or completely exposed.

But the image of this Goddess of Justice, left, bears no bindfold. Is this to remind us perhaps that justice is not blind at all? Learn more about the photo, who is the special lady from Comstock Courthouse in Virginia City, Nevada.