Deontology and Professional Ethics: Duties, Virtues, and Legal Practice

Deontology and the Science of Morality

Jeremy Bentham, in his work on Deontology, explored the science of morality and the various duties incumbent upon human beings. Bentham's ethics focus on the duties each person owes to themselves and to others. Deontology, the study of duties, must be approached ethically, as a science or treatise on obligations.

Two key aspects are law and morality. Morality comprises the set of independent and internal rules that govern human actions concerning good and evil.

Historical Perspectives on Ethics

Aristotle's Ethics

Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, discussed virtues and the pursuit of a good life (Eudaimonia).

Marcus Cicero on Virtues

Marcus Cicero identified prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance as the virtues that constitute an honest person.

Fundamental Human Capacities and Actions

Three fundamental human capacities are conscience, freedom, and will. A human act involves an individual's capacity for reflection. Actions can also be carried out automatically or mechanically, without conscious thought.

Seeking good moral standards, legal justice, social conventions, religious principles, and coexistence are essential aspects of human conduct.

Ethical Frameworks and Rules

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism describes behaviors primarily from a political standpoint.

Personalism

Personalism emphasizes the priority and intrinsic value of the human being.

Types of Rules and Their Characteristics

• Juridical Rules: Coercible, external, and heteronomous.
• Religious Rules: Coercible, internal, and heteronomous.
• Moral Rules: Not coercible, internal, and autonomous.
• Conventional Rules: Not coercible, external, and heteronomous.

Professionalism and Ethical Obligations

Max Weber on Profession

Max Weber defined a profession as a specialized and ongoing activity that typically provides a source of revenue. Key features include its scientific and humanist intellectual character, constancy, permanence, clear vocation, independence, freedom of contract, tradition, and social licensing.

Extinction of the Obligation of Secrecy

A lawyer may be released from the obligation of professional secrecy if they are subjected to a serious and unjustified attack. Furthermore, if a client informs their lawyer of an intent to commit a crime, this confidence does not remain protected by professional secrecy, especially when others are at risk.

Professional Secrecy and Client Confidence

Professional secrecy is crucial for the client's ability to express confidences to their legal representative to resolve problems. The client relies on the certainty that the legal practitioner will not misuse these confidences.

Professional Remuneration (Honoraria)

Honoraria should be based on the client's adequate economic capacity, the lawyer's experience, reputation, the amount and importance of the case, and the complexity of the legal services provided.

Loyalty and Integrity

Loyalty is founded on the values of justice, truth, and honesty. It includes abstention from the practice of bribery.

Bribery

Bribery involves offering or accepting payments to influence actions. It can be active (promoted by the server) or passive (promoted by the litigant or client).

Professional Service Contract

A professional service contract requires the lawyer to agree to provide legal services and the client to pay the agreed fees. This contract is onerous, bilateral, freely entered into, informal, personal, and principal.

Obligations of Parties

• Lawyer's Obligations: Perform work personally, be liable for damages caused by imprudence, negligence, or willful misconduct, maintain professional secrecy, and promptly notify the client if services cannot continue.
• Client's Obligations: Satisfy fees and reimburse expenses incurred for the service.