Each person has an inviolability grounded in justice that cannot be overridden by aggregate social w… — John Rawls

Each person has an inviolability grounded in justice that cannot be overridden by aggregate social welfare, so losses of freedom or sacrifices imposed on a minority cannot be justified by greater benefits enjoyed by others.

By John Rawls, from A Theory of Justice

Key Arguments

Rawls asserts that "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice" that cannot be overridden even by "the welfare of society as a whole," rejecting trade-offs of basic rights for aggregate gain.
He insists that justice "denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others," directly opposing utilitarian-style aggregation.
He further denies that "the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many," ruling out justifying serious burdens on some by net social benefit.
On this basis he claims that, in a just society, core liberties and rights are not negotiable or subject to political bargaining or interest calculus, reinforcing their inviolable status.

Source Quotes

A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others.

Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many.

For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.

It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests. The only thing that permits us to acquiesce in an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one; analogously, an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice.

Key Concepts

Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.
For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others.
It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many.
the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests.

Context

Still in §1, Rawls tightens the primacy of justice claim into a substantive anti-aggregative stance, foreshadowing his critique of utilitarianism and his defense of basic liberties.