justice and mercy

just yesterday, a and i discussed the jung typology test (that we both took recently). a question in it asks if one values justice higher than mercy. i've been thinking about this for the past couple of days. i had answered no, but wondered how i'd arrived at that answer and if i could be sure. i came to a conclusion that in the personal realm, i.e. where the situation involved my personal stance on a matter involving another being, i valued mercy higher than justice. (there is also a question about what justice means in the personal realm in the first place.) however, when one enters the social sphere, where there are certain laws in place, certain rules that society would like us to conform to, i do value justice higher. that is, if person x steals my car, for instance, i consider it worthwhile to forgive x for doing so. if the law states that x be put in prison for a month for that act, then from the social perspective, i would wish for that law to be enforced. does dichotomizing one's values thus make sense? is there even a dichotomy? i will continue to ponder, but any thoughts are welcome.

as always, i consider it a divine coincidence that just as i wondered about justice and mercy, i unintentionally stumbled upon the following. thank you, n, for adding so much perspective to my life :). portia's speech to shylock in merchant of venice:

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.