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: The Works of Mercy, c. 1680]]
Mercy ( Middle English , from Anglo-French ''merci'', from Medieval Latin ''merced-'', ''merces'', from Latin , "price paid, wages", from ''merc-'', ''merx'' "merchandise") can refer both to compassionate behaviour on the part of those in power (e.g. mercy shown by a judge toward a convict) or on the part of a humanitarian third party (e.g. a mission of mercy aiming to treat war victims).
Mercy is a term used to describe the leniency or Compassion shown by one person to another, or a request from one person to another to be shown such leniency or compassion.
One of the basic virtues of Chivalry and Christian Ethics , it is also related to concepts of Justice and Morality in behaviour between people. In India, compassion is known as Karuna .

In a legal sense, a defendant having been found guilty of a Capital Crime may ask for Clemency from being Executed . (A famous literary example is from The Merchant Of Venice when Portia asks Shylock to show mercy. ''The quality of mercy is not strained'', she tells him.)

A number of organisations (e.g. the Mercy Corps , the Sisters Of Mercy and the Temple Of Mercy And Charity ) use the word "mercy" in their name to describe their work.


REFERENCES

  • Ralf van Bühren: ''Die Werke der Barmherzigkeit in der Kunst des 12.–18. Jahrhunderts. Zum Wandel eines Bildmotivs vor dem Hintergrund neuzeitlicher Rhetorikrezeption'' (Studien zur Kunstgeschichte, vol. 115), Hildesheim / Zürich / New York: Verlag Georg Olms 1998. ISBN 3-487-10319-2

  • Sterling Harwood, "Is Mercy Inherently Unjust?," in Michael J. Gorr and Sterling Harwood, eds., Crime and Punishment: Philosophic Explorations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000, formerly Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1996), pp. 464-470.

  • Jeffrie G. Murphy, "Mercy and Legal Justice," in Michael J. Gorr and Sterling Harwood, eds., Crime and Punishment: Philosophic Explorations (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 2000, formerly Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1996), pp. 454-463.

  • Lampert, K.(2005); Traditions of Compassion: From Religious Duty to Social Activism. Palgrave-Macmillan

  • http://www.alislam.org/quran/tafseer/guide.htm?region=UR