Jedem das Seine
From Free net encyclopedia
Jedem das Seine is German translation of an old Greek principle of justice, which is literally translated in English "To each his own", but with idiomatic meaning of "to each according to his/her merits".
The phrase was originally made famous by Roman author, orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC):
"Justitia suum cuique distribuit." De legibus (I,19) "Justice renders to every one his due."
The Latin phrase Suum Cuique was used as a motto by Frederick The Great, King of Prussia, and it is nowadays still in use by the German military police, the Feldjäger.
Nazis used the German phrase at the entrance to the Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II. Today the phrase evokes a negative association of injustice. Compare "Arbeit macht frei".
The phrase rendered notorious a Nokia's advertising campaign in Germany in 1998, because roused objections from the American Jewish Committee. (See the explained translation above for reasons).