Introduction

This chapter introduces the book’s core inquiry: how private justice challenges the state’s monopoly over adjudication, especially in digital contexts. It begins by considering the idea of judging, from everyday opinion to actions with direct consequences for others’ juridical sphere, in particular, in their rights and interests, often causing harm. While acknowledging the reasoning for public justice, it points out that many instances of what may be called justice by one’s own hands are permitted and form part of what will later be defined as a ‘Private Justice Gap’. It surveys how technology provides enhanced opportunities to pass judgement on others and make it matter—from doxxing to vigilantism to hacktivism—with uneven legal treatment and risk of serious harm. In response, the chapter puts forth eht eaim of devising a spectrum of private justice behaviours, based on intrusiveness and effects, and foreshadows the case for a proportionate private justice defence.