Justice, Retribution, Distribution

The concept of Retributive Justice is that of proportionality between what one gives and what one receives.  It, thus, involves two parties, each of which is both a giver and a receiver.  Now, in many cases, the two parties are each an individual person, but, in some, one party is an individual person, while the other is a totality, such as the World, e. g. when someone is deemed to 'deserve' what happens to them.  And, in some such cases, the totality is society, e. g. Marx's "From each . . . to each . . ." formulation.  However, the latter case is distinguishable from others, for, as Marx overlooks, what society gives one is not independent of what it gives anyone else.  For, what it gives out to one is contingent on the total of what is available to all.  In other words, Justice in a political context combines Distributive and Retributive calculations.  The example also suggests that in the cases in which Retribution seems to suffice, it is abstracted from Distributive considerations, often because the total quantity of what is given is presupposed to be infinite, e. g. when a deity is posited as rewarding behavior.