Sample Questions based on the virtue of Justice
- A housemaid takes things from the house as she finds her salary too low. If she confesses this what would you say?
- I undertake to carry a big amount of money to Madras. On the way it is stolen. Have I the obligation of restituting?
- A driver of a van carries the goods of others from the market and makes quite a lot of money on the side. Has he any obligation of restituting?
- A sister gives out food and other things quietly to the poor as the convent can afford it and the superior would not give permission.
- A laundryman regularly hires out suits taken for wash saying that the owners are rich and some poorer persons need them for some functions.
- A man borrows a scooter and it is damaged in an accident. Is he obliged to restitute?
- A cleric buys articles from the military canteen at reduced price through an officer friend. How far are he and the officer guilty? Have they to make restitution since the articles are meant only for the army personnel?
- A principal of a school allows the students to copy in the final exam because ‘it is done by every school’.
- A Contractor puts sub standard cement on the rooting of a construction. The roof collapses and the people below suffer a lot of damage. What is his obligation to restitute?
- Those in charge of an orphanage eat the cheese sent for the children saying that the children do not appreciate it. They also give to friends some of the good clothes that come from abroad. What is to be said about such actions?
- A religious brother sends a lot of money from the institution in which he works to his family who are poor. What if the money was donated for the poor?
- John asks James to take care of his watch while he plays a match. In the excitement of the match James loses the watch. As he does not return it, John takes an expensive pen from James and says he will return it only when he gets back his watch. Your opinion is asked.
- A boy steals an expensive pen thinking it is an ordinary one and sells it for much less than its cost. Now he repents. Has he to restitute the full price?
- A doctor makes a lot of money by treating rich patients with inert tablets. He says that he compensates for this by treating some poor patients free. Is it alright?
- A student gets the first prize of Rs.20 by copying. Has he to restitute the amount to the one who came next in rank?
- A man managed to have his taxes lowered by bribing the tax officials. Another evaded custom duties by offering some articles to the inspectors. Have they now to restitute?
- A manager of an institution gets his job done quickly by giving tips (speed money) to the officials concerned. Is it all right?
- I find an abandoned suitcase in the train. What am I supposed to do with it? If I can’t find the owner, can I keep it for myself?
- A man aims at the neighbor’s dog as it creates a nuisance. Then he examines the dead animal, it turns out that it is the neighbor’s goat. What is the obligation to restitute?
- A friend left some of his goods in my charge. When fire breaks out, I save my goods first and those of my friend mostly perish. Have I to restitute anything? What if his were more expensive?
- A man has been living in grand style from ill-gotten wealth, now he repents. Has he to reduce the standard of his family in order to make restitution?
- The management of the school is building a much needed hall. The teachers are made to contribute a big sum of his family in order to make restitution?
- The management collects big sums from prospective teachers since otherwise; it would not be possible to open new classes. Is this justified, especially if the applicants give the money freely?
- A lawyer wins a property case for a client by a mere technically and astute pleading. Has he to restitute to the loser? What if he also brings in false arguments and proofs?
- The director of an orphanage gives very low salaries to the maids saying that the institution cannot afford more and the girls otherwise would have no jobs.
- A policeman with 4 children collects small tips to let off traffic offenders. He thinks it is the only way he can support the family. If he regrets his past action, has he now to restitute?
- I bought a radio at a cheap price. Later I came to know that it was stolen. The owner now claims it with proof that it is his. Is it alright if I return it to the one who sold it to me and get my money back?
- I got a nice gift for my birthday which I presented to someone else. Now I find it was stolen. What is my obligation now?
- I stole a lottery ticket of Rs.2 and won a prize of Rs. 10,000. Is it enough to return Rs.2 to the one from whom I stole the ticket?
- A government official changes the date of birth in his birth certificate and thereof gets one more year service. Has he to restitute the salary of that year?
- A teacher takes children for a picnic near an orchard. The children raid the fruit trees and cause considerable damage. Who is to restitute?
- My goat enters the neighbor’s garden and eats up a lot of vegetables. Have I to restitute?
- The neighbor’s goat regularly enters my property and creates damage. So I catch it and eat its meat. Is it not a fair compensation?
- A group of picnickers make a fire in the forest. Suddenly, there is a wind and the fire spreads destroying a lot of wood. Have they to make compensation?
- Before the budget, a trader gets inside information and hoards up huge quantities of a commodity. He then sells if at enormous profit. Can he excuse himself by saying that it is the fruit of his smartness? Has he to make any restitution?
- A religious bribes the railway clerk in order to get a berth during the peak season. What is to be said of this?
- An accountant is not able to tally the accounts before the audit. So he forges a few bills in order to escape any headache.
- A wife hides money from her husband and falsifies come accounts. Otherwise, she would not be able to run the home. What if she also helps her relatives in this way?
- A master fines a servant for breaking some crockery. The servant compensates by making ‘occult compensation’.
- A gang of young men cooperate in robbing a house. Only one is caught by the police. What is the duty of others to compensate?
- A man was driving his scooter carefully. Suddenly a child, (not so poor), comes across the way and is badly hurt. Has the man any obligation to compensate for the injury?
- A boy gets a girl to agree to intercourse with the promise of marriage. When she gets pregnant he refuses to marry her. How would you guide him regarding his obligations to the girl and to the child?
- The bursar of a religious house has no feeling for the poor. So one of the members gives out things to the poor and diverts as much money as possible to them. Now he is not sure of his behavior. How would you advise him?
- An accountant is asked by the manager to keep double account; one real and the other for tax officials. What is he to do?
- Returning from Singapore, a passenger asks a friend priest to carry certain packages for him as the priest is less likely to be caught at the customs. Can the priest comply out of kindness?
- A family caught a thief and hammered him in such a way that he was not likely to come again. They justify this summary justice by saying it is not practical to report to the police. Are they right? What if the poor thief is seriously hurt?
- A man refuses to pay his monthly laundry bill saying that one of his new shirts has been badly damaged. Is he right in doing so?
- A trader has been short weighing his customers during the last 5years. Now he repents and estimates that he has profited about Rs.20, 000 by the fraud. What has he to do now?
- Twenty cows of the seminary are grazing in the ground. One stray cow comes in. the servant took them in the cowshed without knowing that now there are 21 cows. After 3-4 days he comes to know this and so informs you who are the rector of the seminary. What will you do? How will you find out the owner? If he comes to take his cow, what will you do? After announcing he came to take it, but the cow due to the negligence died. What to do? Restitution? But the boy was milking the cow everyday!
- I bought a watch which one man brought to sell. But after a few days another man sees the watch and tells that it was his. He asks for it. What to do? Can I get back my money? Any right?
- I am a catholic taking active part in the strike against the director of workshop.
- Am I wrong?
- Is the strike valid according to the church documents?
- I am a worker in a factory with a wife and four children. I am paid very poorly: Rs. 150/- per month, and therefore I can hardly make both ends meet. I have taken goods worth Rs.30/- per month to be able to support my family. It is six months now. Can I go on this way? I cannot find any other better job.
- A neighbor distils liquor. Since he creates much trouble, out of spite I report him to the police. He was arrested and was found guilty; sentenced to three years imprisonment. Now the wife and children are starving. Restitution?
- I am an engineer. I discover a method to make cement into concrete by which I reduce the expenses. But when I take a contract from the government I give the usual quotations. Can I do it?
- I have a quarrel with my neighbor regarding the property. He encroaches on my property and puts a fence on my property claiming it as his. I destroyed the fence in the night. Am I right?
- The dog of my neighbor was a real nuisance to me, so I wanted to shoot it. By mistake I shot his cow. Have I to restitute?
- I am a priest. In order to get money I told a lie. I wrote to my benefactress saying that there is a family in great need of help due to a recent accident they had. Now I have the money with me and I am thinking of erecting a chapel in honor of St. Antony. Can I use it?
- Henry, employed by an illegal trader, steals Rs.2000/-one day, but loses it on the way. On another occasion, he steals Rs.3000/-but donates it to a poor lady who has lost her hut in a fire. When he confesses his sin, is he bound to restitute the stolen amount in order to be absolved?
- Lawrence is an employee in the P.W.D office, on a temporary basis. According to customary Indian procedures bribes are given and taken as easily as handshakes. But Lawrence being a Christian does not fall in line with his superiors. Now he is suspected by them and he is in danger of losing his job. Should he oblige them and retain his job or stick his guns and let his family starve?
- Sr. Superior punishes Sr. Sophia who is falsely accused of stealing the view cards from the reading room. But I kept quiet though I had taken the cards. Now I feel guilty. How should I restitute?
