On Analyzing The Law of Legal Ethics: An American Perspective

1981 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Ray Patterson
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Undesirable Effect ◽  
Legal Ethics ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
American Perspective ◽  
Adversary System ◽  
The Common ◽  
Duty Of Loyalty

My purpose in this paper is to present some propositions relevant to the analysis of legal ethical problems. In working my way to those propositions, however, I shall first discuss the need for them and explain why I deem them to be important.My basic thesis is that historically the profession's codes of ethics constituted a jurisprudential anomaly with two unfortunate consequences. First, they had an undesirable effect on the conduct of lawyers in the representation of their clients. Second, and more importantly, they served to impede the development of a satisfactory law of legal ethics.The first proposition is more difficult to establish than the second and I do not propose to dwell on it. But, if you accept the notion that lawyers have used their duty of loyalty to the client to arrogate to themselves the power of acting in accordance with the client's wishes regardless of the consequences to society or to others, I think you will agree with the point. This is not to say that lawyers always exercise that power, and few lawyers, I think, take seriously Lord Brougham's infamous dictum that an advocate “must not regard the alarm, the suffering, the torment, the destruction which he may bring upon any other” in defense of his client. But the fact that the dictum lives on tells us something about the lawyer's perception of his duty of loyalty. Ultimately, I suppose, the notion of the lawyer's duty of loyalty to the client must be attributed to the common law adversary system of trial, but the duty received its most fulsome expression in the profession's code of ethics. Courts never gave loyalty the imprimatur of approval that the profession stamped on it with the rules of ethics.

scholarly journals The Inviolability of Medical Confidentiality in Malaysia: An Analysis of the Rules and Exceptions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puteri Nemie Jahn Kassim ◽  
Nazri Ramli
Keyword(s):  
Islamic Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Hippocratic Oath ◽  
Patient Relationship ◽  
Medical Confidentiality ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Rules And Exceptions

The duty of medical confidentiality has been one of the core duties of medical practice as information created, disclosed, acquired directly or indirectly during the doctor-patient relationship is considered confidential and requires legitimate protection. Further, preserving confidentiality on the premise that the relationship between doctor and patient has been built on trust and confidence renders the duty to be seen as sacrosanct. The source for this duty can be found not only in the Hippocratic Oath, codes of ethics, religious tenets but also in the common law, principles of equity and statutory provisions. Nevertheless, technological advancements and the growth of social networks have contributed to the difficulties in preserving confidentiality as the information gathered tends to become vulnerable in unsecure environments. However, the duty of medical confidentiality is by no means absolute as it can be breached in situations in which there are stronger conflicting duties. This article discusses the rules governing the duty of medical confidentiality and the exceptions in which infringements to this duty become justified. It also gives an overview of the duty of confidentiality under Islamic law. It concludes that the inviolability of this duty may be without doubt but circumstances warranting its disclosure are crucial to serve the interests of justice.

scholarly journals Etyczność w przestrzennych działaniach innowacyjnych administracji publicznej

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 314-330
Author(s):  
Barbara Pytko
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Unethical Behavior ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Entire Country

Changes in the management of the public administration are taking place in a very turbulent manner. The initial solutions for building a quality culture of the public organizations are supported by implementation of systems designed to combat corruption. Code of ethics for public officials and employees is getting better understood and the public officials themselves tend to constitute new ethics rules now. Additionally they have started to organize activities in order to eliminate unethical behavior. These innovative solutions of a spatial character are covering the entire country. This paper presents ethical problems, which cannot be solved by using only law regulations. It also presents an analysis of the implemented innovative measures like standards in public life, declarations on ethic, codes of ethics and ethics audits. These measures also include system solutions complaint with quality requirements.The most innovative solutions in the form of System of Counteracting Corruption Threats (System Przeciwdziałania Zagrożeniom Korupcyjnym), which contains 27 requirements, are well implemented in the public institutions because they have the same structure as the requirements of ISO 9001.

scholarly journals Adversary System in Common Law Countries and Possibility for Implementation in Indonesian Court

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-20
Author(s):  
Puspita Nirmala
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Jury Trial ◽  
Law System ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Adversary System ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Law System ◽  
The Right

This research tries to open the possibility of implementing an adversary system which is very closely related to the common law system in Indonesia, especially concerning the “The Rights of the Accused” in the criminal justice process. This research is carried out normatively by conducting legal studies through literature and legislation. The result of this research is that if the accused declared himself guilty of the crime he committed, this means that the accused will lose his right to be tried and processed fairly trial in the common law system. If a defendant is declared guilty, then the next process is the conviction without trial, in which case there are weaknesses in the rights of the accused that should have been carried out through a jury trial. Is it possible to apply in Indonesian courts? Is it not contrary to the norms contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure  (KUHAP), especially regarding the rights of suspects relating to human rights (HAM), such as equal treatment before the law; put forward the presumption of innocence; the right to compensation; right to legal assistance; the defendant's rights before the court; a free, fast and simple trial; and a court that is open to the public. However, if possible in Indonesia to switch to the adversary system, the judge's role can be limited only as a referee to allow the creation of a fair trial. The party in charge of deciding whether or not the defendant is right is the jury.

The Archbishop and Marital Pluralism: An American Perspective

2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-347
Author(s):  
John Witte
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Rape Victims ◽  
State Laws ◽  
American Perspective ◽  
The Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Common ◽  
Religious Courts

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams (head of the worldwide Anglican Communion), set off an international firestorm on 7 February 2008 by suggesting that some accommodation of Muslim family law was ‘unavoidable’ in England. His suggestion, though tentative, prompted more than 250 articles in the world press within a month, the vast majority denouncing it. England will be beset by ‘licensed polygamy’, ‘barbaric procedures’ and ‘brutal violence’ against women and children, his critics argued, all administered by ‘legally ghettoized’ Muslim courts immune from civil appeal or constitutional challenge. Consider Nigeria, Pakistan and other former English colonies that have sought to balance Muslim sharia with the common law, other critics added. The horrific excesses of their religious courts – even calling the faithful to stone innocent rape victims for dishonouring their families – prove that religious laws and state laws on the family simply cannot coexist. Case closed.

scholarly journals Trends and Development of the Directors’ Duty of Loyalty in China: A Case Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8589
Author(s):  
Shuangge Wen ◽  
Jingchen Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Corporate Law ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Host Environment ◽  
Opportune Time ◽  
Company Directors ◽  
Legal Transplantation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Duty Of Loyalty

Covering a central theme in corporate law development, this paper discusses the pragmatic utility of the common-law-originated duty of loyalty of company directors in the civil law context of China. The reception of legal transplantation in a host environment remains a contentious theme, and it seems to be an opportune time to study relevant cases that have been adjudicated since China’s statutory inauguration of the directors’ duty of loyalty in 2005, in the sense that more than 10 years of practice has resulted in ample evidence on the practical effects of this transplanted duty. Through an analysis of 526 cases on the basis of eight attributes, we discovered some commendable features, including increasing accessibility of the law and a differentiation of various types of directors’ duties of loyalty. Meanwhile, the selective adoption norm customary to Chinese culture has to a certain extent compromised the intended goals of greater legislative clarity, judicial consistency and in turn balanced and sustainable businesses, demonstrated in several incompatibilities between transplanted duties and domestic legal institutions. Reshaping the conventional transplantation ideal that commercial laws are easily transferable, the paper suggests the construction of a broad collateral regime for greater congruence between laws and existing institutions.

6. Examination-in-chief

2020 ◽  
pp. 179-213
Author(s):  
Adrian Keane ◽  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Adversary System ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Common ◽  
Previous Identification

The questioning of witnesses, which generally falls into three stages known as examination-in-chief, cross-examination, and re-examination, is central to the English adversary system of justice. This chapter focuses on the first stage, examination-in-chief. In this stage the party calling a witness, or counsel on his behalf, will seek to elicit evidence that supports his version of the facts in issue. The discussions cover young and vulnerable witnesses; the rule against leading questions and the exceptions to the rule; refreshing the memory in court and out of court; the rule against previous consistent or self-serving statements and the common law exceptions to the rule (complaints in sexual cases, statements admissible to rebut allegations of recent fabrication, statements made on accusation, previous identification, statements admissible as part of the res gestae and statements in documents used to refresh the memory and received in evidence); and unfavourable and hostile witnesses.

6. Examination-in-chief

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Keane ◽  
Paul McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Common Law ◽  
Adversary System ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Common ◽  
Previous Identification

The questioning of witnesses, which generally falls into three stages known as examination-in-chief, cross-examination, and re-examination, is central to the English adversary system of justice. This chapter focuses on the first stage, examination-in-chief. In this stage the party calling a witness, or counsel on his behalf, will seek to elicit evidence that supports his version of the facts in issue. The discussions cover young and vulnerable witnesses; the rule against leading questions and the exceptions to the rule; refreshing the memory in court and out of court; the rule against previous consistent or self-serving statements and the common law exceptions to the rule (complaints in sexual cases, statements admissible to rebut allegations of recent fabrication, statements made on accusation, previous identification, statements admissible as part of the res gestae and statements in documents used to refresh the memory and received in evidence); and unfavourable and hostile witnesses.

scholarly journals Code of Ethics in a Multicultural Company and its Legal Context

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (Special-Number) ◽  
pp. 108-113
Author(s):  
Eva Odlerová ◽  
Jaroslava Ďurišová ◽  
Bystrík Šramel
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
International Environment ◽  
The Common ◽  
Ethics Guidelines

Abstract The entry of foreign investors and simultaneous expansion of different national cultures, religions, rules, moral and ethical standards is bringing up problems of cooperation and coexistence of different nationalities, ethnicities and cultures. Working in an international environment therefore requires adaptation to a variety of economic, political, legal, technical, social, cultural and historical conditions. One possible solution is to define a code of ethics, guidelines which find enough common moral principles, which can become the basis for the adoption of general ethical standards, while respecting national, cultural differences and practices. In this article, the authors pay attention not only to the analysis of the common ethical rules in a multicultural company, but also to the legal aspects of codes of ethics. Each code of ethics is a set of standards, which, like the legal norms, regulate the behaviour of individuals. These standards, however, must simultaneously meet certain statutory criteria that define the boundaries of regulation of employee’s behaviour.

Legal Ethics in the American Practice of Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
WILLIAM ELLIOTT BUTLER
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Responsibility ◽  
Professional Conduct ◽  
Legal Ethics ◽  
Bar Association

The author examines in this article the professional legal ethics in the United States, more commonly known as “professional responsibility”, as a subject to an unusual pattern of “codification”. Detailed rules historically originated with the legal profession itself, initially in legal doctrine and then a Code of Ethics published in 1887 by the Alabama State Bar Association. Whatever borrowing occurred among states when introducing their own “codes of ethics”, the Alabama model was drawn upon when, in 1908, the American Bar Association approved “32 Canons of Professional Ethics”. The sources of law regulating the professional conduct of lawyers in the United States are several. The legal ethics within state courts is regulated by the courts, the legislative (or parliamentary) organ, and the Bar of each state. Professional responsibility, in the spirit of David Hoffman, has become an integral part of legal education and licensing. Law students take a compulsory course in professional responsibility and are required to pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination administered nationally in the United States by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The author concludes, that legal ethics has been an integral part of American legal education since the early nineteenth century. In the twentieth century the legal profession itself introduced “private” canons of ethics which were then accepted by the highest courts in virtually all states as rules of professional conduct binding upon all members of the Bar. It remains a distinctive element of the American legal system that binding rules of professional conduct are formed mostly by the courts, and not by the legislature. These rules are initially “codified” by a voluntary non-State organization, adopted by the courts, and then applied by the courts in cases which ultimately become components of the law of precedent; that is, a separate and distinct source of law.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document