An ordinary sense of justice is often based on sentiments which cannot be elevated into theories. Theories of justice are based on different and even opposing criteria which are themselves subject to widely varying interpretation. Justice means everything and nothing in the context of the distribution of social and material goods. Suppose somebody demands ‘Is it fair or just that some people are starving and some unemployed while others have large private incomes?’ The only reasonable answer can be, ‘According to some well-established standards, yes. According to rival and alternative standards, no.’ There are standards by which it is quite unfair that the state should prevent a man from giving his wealth to his children and hand out money to those who have done nothing to deserve it and standards which imply the opposite of both these propositions.

(Lincoln Allison, Right Principles: A Conservative Philosophy of Politics [Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984], 86)