right and wrong; merits of a case
Formal or literary term for the rightness or wrongness of a matter, often used in legal or ethical contexts. Not common in everyday speech.
In a trial, it is required to clarify the rights and wrongs of the case.
He made a remark that showed no sense of right and wrong.
Compound of 曲 (kyoku, 'bent, wrong') and 直 (choku, 'straight, right'). The combination expresses the contrast between crookedness and straightness, metaphorically extended to right and wrong.