Stepping on to a single-engine aeroplane from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal, my legal partner Martin Howe and I decided to divert our attention away from the frightening prospect of the flight over the Himalayan mountains by continuing our discussion about the meaning of justice and seeking to create an equation to define justice - or more precisely a universal mathematical formula that would deliver it.

Justice is the most nebulous and elusive of concepts. Every person, community, country and age has struggled to define justice and how to achieve it. I believe that knowing what justice looks like will aid the vital search for it. As our aeroplane touched down in Pokhara we concluded that the universal definition of the perfect model of justice looks like this:

J = FP+EAOFT

J = justice FP = fair processEA = equality of armsOFT = objectively fair tribunal

Although each of the elements of the proposed equation represents complex and contentious issues, students of law will recognise that this equation encapsulates, at a glance, a simple expression of a perfect model of delivering justice.

The elements of the equation - fair process, equality of arms and objectively fair tribunal - have been well rehearsed in the courts of England and Wales and are well understood. However, the equation could just as easily apply in a traditional court of the Maoris of New Zealand or the House of Chiefs in Ghana. Whether justice is sought in the Supreme Court of the US, the Royal Courts of Justice in London or in a sharia court in Iran, where a perfect model of justice is found it should look like this. I would very much welcome comments and criticism.

David Enright, Howe & Co Solicitors, London W