A paired-comparisons measure of distributive justice development, the Distributive Justice Scale (DJS), was developed and validated in four studies. Pictures were drawn to represent the different stages of distributive justice for a given dilemma and the DJS was scored by selecting the child's preferred stage via the picture comparisons for each dilemma. In Study 1, 104 children from kindergarten, grades 2 and 4 were given the DJS and two Piagetian logical reasoning tasks. Age trends and a relationship with logical reasoning were found. In Study 2, 66 children from grades 1, 3, and 5 were given the DJS and a measure of verbal ability. Age trends and a low relationship with verbal ability were found. In Study 3, 88 children in grades 1, 3, and 5 from Kinshasa, Africa were given the DJS. The trends replicated Study 2. In Study 4, 56 children from lower and middle social classes in kindergarten and grade 3 were given the DJS. The lower class lagged behind the middle class in their DJS scores in both grades. Implications for distributive justice research were drawn. (Author/RL)