Legal ethics.pptx

It is a presentation about Legal Profession and Ethics.

1. Legal Profession and Ethics

2. Introduction The set of rules that regulate the conduct of members of the legal profession are called Legal Ethics. Legal ethics is one branch of professional ethics which comprises of set of rules of conduct for professionals including teachers, accountants, engineers, physicians etc.

3. …. Professional ethics belongs to a wider discipline called applied ethics which form as one branch of ethics or moral philosophy. Ethics, a branch of philosophy, deals with general moral principles and specific moral choices to be made by an individual. Another branch of ethics is the theory of moral obligations.

4. Historical Background Legal profession in its fundamental form is found back to ancient Greece. There were no special class of people who adopted advocacy as a profession in ancient Greece. The Athenian courts allowed the litigants (plaintiffs) to have the help of their relatives or friends or a person indirectly interested in the outcome of the case. These persons did not speak on behalf of the litigant. Their tasks were limited to composing speeches for free.

5. …. Ancient Rome , the origin of civil law, is renowned for the legacy of its developed legal system. Lawyers occupied foremost place in Rome. The profession of an advocate was often a passport to the higher office in the state. Rome had non-official lawyers, Juris consult and patron. Nonofficial lawyers gave opinions which were approved by distributer of justice.

6. … They did not know much about the law. They obtain the knowledge necessary for their jobs from juris consulti. However there was no professional ethics for the advocates. For example solicitation for one self was considered right.

7. … In USA, written ethical standard did not exist in the legal profession prior to the twentieth century this was changed in 1906. The American Bar Association (ABA) formulated the canon of professional ethics to govern lawyers and did not interest the notion of creating standard to govern the conduct of judges.

8. .. Instead ABA believed that judges should device rules to govern their conduct. In 1919 ABA decided to interfere and promulgate ethical rules for judges.

9. … In India, legal profession existed before British rule. Actually, the legal profession as it exists today was created and developed during British period. After independence, the 1961 advocates act was promulgated. It amended and joined the laws relating to legal practitioners. It also provided constitution of Bar Councils and All Indian Bar. it deals with conduct of advocates.

10. Ethics, Profession, Professional Ethics and Legal Ethics Ethics: Ethics, like logic, is one branch of philosophy. Ethics is the study of the general nature of morals and specific moral choices to be made by individuals in his relationship with others. It is the philosophical study of morality. It is also called moral philosophy.

11. … Ethics has three branches: metaethics, theoretical ethics and applied ethics

12. Metaethics Metaethics is  the study of moral thought and moral language . Rather than addressing questions about what practices are right and wrong and what our obligations to other people or future generations are. Metaethics asks what morality actually is. Metaethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment.

13. Theoretical ethics Theoretical ethics is  the study of the value judgments we apply to human choices and human behavior . What exactly do we mean when we say that someone or something is “good” or “bad,” and what basis do we have for making such judgments?

14. … This principle states that an ethical theory should allow people to control over themselves and to be able to make decisions that apply to their lives.

15. Applied ethics Applied ethics has the task of resolving specific moral issues and morally problematic and concrete (actual) cases which arise in different areas of life. Applied ethics is a branch of ethics used to the treatment of moral problems, practices, and policies in personal life, professions, technology, and government.

16. Profession The word profession or professional frequently appears in many branches of Ethiopian Law. For example, Art. 41 of the Constitution guarantees every Ethiopian the right to choose his/her profession. Art. 5 of the Commercial Code refers to activities that are professionally carried out,

17. … Art. 69 of the Criminal Code provides that acts done in the exercise of professional duty is not liable to punishment.

18. Professional Ethics Professional ethics is the rule or standard governing the conduct of members of a profession. Professional ethics is ethics in the form of formally framed rules governing professional conduct of particular class of people.

19. … Unlike ethics which applies to everyone, professional ethics applies to only members of the profession. Violation of professional ethics results in disciplinar y measures .

20. Legal Ethics Professional ethics for lawyers is legal ethics. It is the standard of minimally acceptable conduct within the legal profession, involving the duties that its members owe one another, their client and the court ( Black‘s Law Dictionary, 726). Chief Justice Marshal explains the aim of legal ethics in the following terms:

21. … The fundamental aim of legal ethics is to maintain the honor and dignity of the law profession. To secure the spirit of friendly cooperation between the bench and the bar in promotion of high standard of justice, to establish honorable and fair dealings of the counsel with his client opponent and witness to establish a spirit of brotherhood in the bar itself

22. … to secure that lawyers discharge their responsibilities to the community generally” According to Chief Justice Marshal, legal ethics maintains the honor and dignity of legal profession the in promotion of justice.

23. What is the relation ship between honor and dignity of legal profession to the promotion of justice? The loss of honor and dignity of profession of law results in disrespect for court and law. People lose confidence in courts. Complaints will not be brought to court. If justice prevails in the society, persons with begin to compensate their grievances by individual actions. They take laws in their hands. This leads to the destruction of properties and lives which results the death of society.

24. … To avoid the destruction of society, legal ethics requires the legal professional to be ethical. For example , they should not take part in a case involving conflict of interest, they should not tell confidential information and it also required them to cooperate with one another.

25. … The judges (the bench), the advocates (the bar) and prosecutors are not enemy. They should have a friendly cooperation to attain justice.

26. …. In addition, legal ethics requires advocates to make honorable and fair dealing with the client and the challenger.

27. … For example , advocates‘ fee must be fair and reasonable. Unnecessary fee discourages the laypersons from utilizing the legal system to protect their rights it abuses advocate-client relationship which is based on mutual trust and confidence.

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