A central virtue, associated with justice and fairness. A distribution of benefits and burdens is made impartially if no consideration sways it except those that determine what is due to each individual. Different views of desert will assess this differently. A difficulty with applying the concept is that in much of life the claims of people to whom one stands in special relations, such as friends and family, oppose strict impartiality, making it seem more a part of public morality than of private virtue.