Georgetown's Lady Justice Statue

She's perched up so high that one can barely see her, but thanks to the power of the camera's zoom lens, we can get a good look at the Lady Justice statue that looks down from Georgetown's courthouse. Looks like the elements have blown away part of her scales?


The ancient Roman figure of Lady Justice, or Justitia, was originally never rendered blindfolded. This was a peculiar practice that didn't begin until centuries later - the 15th century, to be precise.

Over the years, many people raised the logical concern that a blindfolded Justice appeared to have the wrong symbolism; although it was meant to show impartiality, it also seemed to suggest that she was no longer capable of meting Justice if she can't see a thing.

For a time, she was depicted as having two faces, which was even worse symbolism: do we really want people to think of Justice as "two-faced"? Fortunately, the current trend is to depict her as she originally was meant to be, unencumbered.