This article focuses on theoretical aspects of restorative justice, especially its contextualization as a form of self-regulatory impulsive remedial justice. The article highlights social limits of moral justice as part of the notion of commutative justice. This article considers how ‘restorative justice’ has emerged as a legitimate response to crime. It presents the beginnings of a genealogical analysis of ‘restorative justice’ as it applies to criminal justice contexts. It comprises a ‘backwards-looking’ component, in which accepted historical accounts of ‘restorative justice’ are problematical, and a ‘forwards-looking’ component. Critically reviewing theory of Restorative Justice I conclude that restorative justice, rather than being simply taken as an informal alternative to the formalistic system of criminal justice, has to be analyzed as a specific domain of self-regulatory social justice.