goals
Reflect on Ethics to encourage the practice of general and particular duties with a sense of great professional responsibility. Determine the Importance of Legal Deontology in the life of legal professionals and in the performance of public officials.
Justifications:
It is necessary to include in the study plans of the different university careers the subject LEGAL DEONTOLOGY, a subject that complements the knowledge about Ethics, especially in the specialty of legal studies, where decisions become increasingly complicated for jurists as a result of the accelerating changes that the post-modern world experiences as a result of the wonderful advances in science and technology.
However, the crisis of values increases along with scientific development and the Ethics of the 20th century was not enough to overcome it and it will be less so in the present, for having inherited the post-war culture and the anguishing proposals for solutions of the existentialist movements, of materialism, of utilitarian pragmatism; solutions that apparently solve the problems but that deep down are not the real solution to the great conflicts that afflict humanity.
We hear people say that crises are useful, that calm comes after the storm, that the crisis forces us to seek solutions, sharpens our judgment and encourages us to change; meanwhile, the less favored groups become depressed, discouraged, disoriented and do not find the appropriate solution to the difficulties that life presents them; in a word, they are unhappy, they lose confidence and forget the spiritual realm, which leads to mediocrity.
The Ethos of modern man has gone astray, the bird seeks the nest and finds itself in the open, it is necessary to help him find the way again so that he can overcome frustrations, and save himself from corruption.
Humanity has fallen into vices as a result of having lost the compass of Ethics. In particular, education in El Salvador has to lead the learner in the light of morals, civility and civics; we need to share with equity, the fair, the good and the beauty of life.
We must distinguish that the ethical relativism of our century leads us to allow, to tolerate situations that conflict with the truth.
Hedonism that seeks sensory pleasure, as the Stoics, Epicureans and Cynics lived in Greco-Roman society, is present in modern permissive and relativistic consumer society with the variable that today is no longer individualistic, but tends towards collectivism with the name of solidarity leaving a great void in the spiritual field, although we appear to be happy, good and financially successful.
Our universities develop programs in Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, etc., and very seldom give importance to Ethics, rather they have transferred their faith to science and technology with the hope that through them we will reach transcendence, immortality, without thinking that they can also lead us to alienation, abjection, spiritual ruin.
The modern philosopher David García Bacca1 said: “man is the fuse that will make the universe explode”; he surely had in mind the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima on the fateful August 6, 1945, the first atomic bombing in history that ended the Second World War that caused 120,000 deaths to the Japanese, thousands of wounded and produced mutations genetic due to radiation; Or perhaps he remembered the Chernobyl accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986, the most serious nuclear accident in history, or he would remember the bombing of Guernica by the Germans to frighten the Spanish civilian population, which occurred in April 1937 and immortalized by Picasso in one of his paintings.
The modern world trusted science, believed in humanism, but when it warned of the danger of its manipulation for personal and perverse ends, it was disappointed and uncertainty came, insecurity about the future of humanity, a victim of the same progress. Cloning, abortion, in vitro reproduction, euthanasia, surrogacy, same-sex marriages, the advancement of science and technology have altered the natural order.
The majority of philosophers affirm: "natura non facit saltum", nature does not jump, it is harmonic; natural law is intelligible, the light of reason is enough. Today we talk about Bioethics, science at the service of life, but all these advances are not regulated, it is necessary to update the codes of Ethics and legal codes to maintain the balance of human coexistence.
The Ethics of the XXI century proposes sustainable development as an applicable measure in this post-modern century for the conservation of the environment, the ecological regulation for the rational use of natural resources without harming future generations; but without Ethics, the human being would be helpless in a world in which only the law of the jungle and that of the lowest instincts would prevail.
It is not necessary to justify the importance of Ethics because its need is being revealed through wars, the proliferation of gangs, destruction and death that generates more instability and poverty in the world.
The advances of technology without Ethics will not be able to leave us a more humane and just world. The ideals of justice and equity of the legal profession are shipwrecked amid the danger of corruption and injustice promoted by the lowest passions; and lawyers often have to provide legal solutions to unpopular and unpleasant causes.
There is consensus that the most serious problems we are experiencing are not going to be solved by multiplying laws and regulations; Ethical awareness, moral education is needed, which confirms the role of "Morality, Urbanity and Civic" as disciplines that functioned in the traditional education of Salvadorans.
The great Roman orator Marco Tulio Cicero exclaimed: "Oh tempora, or Mores" (oh times or customs) "Quid leges sine moribus?" (Why laws without customs?). The bulwark of positive customs has been religion and in our midst, the more technology, the less religion. The Ciceronian address mentioned above was delivered before the senate of Rome against a seditious senator whose name was Catilina, who had tried to assassinate Cicero and he condemns the perfidy and corruption that the society of his time lives. (Cicero, 4th book, second speech). The above quote confirms that the need for ethics is not new, it is for all time.
All of the above justifies the importance of Legal Deontology in the training of legal professionals.
We cannot exactly locate the birth of Ethics as a science; However, we cannot deny that many ancient philosophers, by worrying about the proper functioning of human groups and trying to understand the phenomenon of human coexistence, entered the field of Sociology and Ethics.
When speaking of the sources of Ethics, some authors mention the sophists, ―rhetorical philosophers such as Protagoras― who said: “man is the measure of all things”. The philosopher, with that phrase, placed the human being as a rational entity and king of the universe; the sophists were experts in the art of good speech; however, we cannot fail to include the Socratics among the precursors of Ethics, especially Plato and Aristotle.
Plato, in the Socratic dialogues, chooses the virtues as a theme, thus we can mention among his works: Phaedo (of the soul), El Theé (wisdom), El Philebus (pleasure), El Meno (of virtue), Crito (duty), The Banquet (love), The Apology (on Socrates' self-defense); In all his works he puts the doctrine of ideas as the basis of his philosophy; and Aristotle, in particular, called his work Ethics: ten books that deal with happiness, those that were dedicated to his son Nicomacheus. Aristotle affirmed that the freedom of choice of the individual made a precise and complete analysis of human questions impossible; for him there was a distinction between moral and intellectual virtues; He adds that the end of man consists in the development of his spiritual faculties.We can also consider the Bible as the source of Ethics and then Christianity that extended moral philosophy to everyone, including slaves, promising eternal happiness.
Aristotle is the first to raise the difference between human acts as a formal object of Ethics and the acts of man; points out that the human act is characterized by the will, the understanding and the deliberation prior to its execution; which means that one acts consciously, with knowledge, with attention, when one is warned of the convenience or inconvenience of the act and, of course, of the proper use of freedom to make fair decisions; by act of man we understand the actions driven by the senses, therefore instinctive.
The Aristotelian approach is elitist; for him, full excellence could only be achieved by the adult and mature male belonging to the upper class and not by women and children, or by manual workers who were denied the right to vote.
Stoic and Epicurean philosophers are hedonists, they teach that the highest good is pleasure, but that the passions must be mastered to the point of apathy.
Aristotle tells us in his Nicomachean Ethics that the most desired good is happiness, a principle that is transmitted through the Church in the Middle Ages, with the difference that the Church does not speak of earthly happiness but of eternal happiness, that it is earned through pain, through penance and the practice of virtues. If we review the postmodern position we find that the human being continues to be hedonistic but it is no longer an individualist formula; Today we are talking about solidarity and sustainable development, a collectivist hedonistic Ethical proposal, which recommends the moderate use of natural resources so as not to harm future generations.
In the ethical approaches of ancient civilizations such as those that Egypt and Sumeria developed, ethical maxims appear whose precepts were imposed by secular leaders who used religion; for example in China the maxims of Confucius were accepted as a moral code
Location of ethics:
Ethics is a philosophical discipline and is a practical activity that is closely related to Ontology and Axiology. Some authors identify Ethics with Morals; for us, Ethics is a science and morality is the practice of customs learned within the family.
If we attend to a natural order of the philosophical disciplines, we would first have Gnoseology or Epistemology, which in ordinary Spanish would be the Theory of Knowledge, whose objective is to propose the origin of knowledge and its possibilities; Then Metaphysics would follow, which raises the study of what is outside of tangible reality, what is beyond reality; then we would place the Ethics: Ethos = cave, the interior and for some synonymous with Mos, moris = customs, to which compulsory force is attributed, practices to which the conviction in those who perform it, the normal, the accustomed becomes at the same time obligatory or due, the difference is that ethical norms come from within and morality is the set of norms that come from outside,that is to say, of society; When morality in fact coincides with morality in law, we say that we are acting in an ethical way.
Ethics is interested in the study of the essence of human acts, that is, those that are the characteristics of every human act, and we have pointed out that its main characteristic is freedom because without it there is no human act; so we can say that studying Ethics is to philosophize about human acts looking for their causes since human acts have an end, an intention or purpose.
Our attempt is to define and explain positive morality, that set of rules of behavior and ways of life through which the human being tends to realize the value of the good.
Epictetus, the stoic Greek philosopher of the SI AD who lived as a slave in Rome, proposed Socrates as a model for being an unflappable knowledge of the truth and always correct in his judgments, but that he was an elusive model; said that the golden rule of ethics is: "you have to do good and avoid evil" (Epictetus, pg. 72) - just as simple - a norm of conduct oriented towards the realization of values, to which he calls the first principle of Natural Law.
It is convenient to distinguish that if something is moral, it conforms to ethical standards, while what is immoral is what transgresses values; what is morally bad is the opposite of a table of values; We must also consider the amoral as indifference to morality and immorality, it is the extra moral, it is located beyond good and evil, it becomes independent with respect to them.
This phenomenon of the amoral could be confused with the supposedly Machiavellian position (Machiavelli is credited with the phrase: "the end justifies the means", something completely false). For Ethics that does not work, the human being is an end in itself and no act that is bad in itself can become good or moral in a moment; It is what arises in consciousness and arises from the order or natural law.
I think it is very important that Codes of Ethics be discussed and that they are being reformed due to the personal criteria of the officials; Furthermore, it strikes me that there is an Ethics Court that is more concerned with imposing coercive norms and physical sanctions on citizens; I understand that the moral precepts do not entail social or divine pressure; they belong, so to speak, to human nature and that when we speak of moral evil we are speaking of the abuse of nature itself, as well as when we speak of sin understood as disrespect for divinity. Hence we can conclude at this point, that the moral imperative is universal and individual; It is a problem of conscience; It moves us to repentance, but it is not physically punishable. However, moral responsibility is greater in the professional.It is there where we will raise the problem of Deontology. We will analyze the problems of the professional who strives to succeed socially and economically, either through work or scientific activities, and often wants to achieve success without compromising conscience and human dignity. Following the definition of Ethics, we can call it the science that studies human acts and formally, the goodness or badness of said acts.the goodness or badness of such acts.the goodness or badness of such acts.
Ethics presents some problems and among them we can mention that there is a diversity of moral systems, there is a pluralism of tendencies facing the same problem; for some people an act might be considered correct, for others not; there is a saying that goes: "what is bread for some may be poison for others". Another problem is that of human freedom, which is sometimes incompatible with moral norms.
Some moralists hold that the end justifies the means; modern society discusses the acceptance of divorce, abortion, euthanasia, etc., as something that should be allowed, confronting morality with the law; thus causing yet another problem such as the breakdown of ethical and spiritual values par excellence.
If we pay attention to the criteria of human behavior we find that they are based on pleasure and instincts; They seek the pleasant and avoid the unpleasant (seek pleasure and avoid pain), and this occurs in the human being unconsciously; Social pressure also exerts a decisive influence on human behavior; sometimes there are marked differences between the civil and the moral code; for example, some countries have legalized abortion, but society rejects it and that is where we detect moral conscience.
Ethics is related to all humanistic disciplines, especially to Law, because both are about rules that govern human behavior, but they have notorious differences, among them we have that ethical rules are autonomous, each individual has their own since they govern internal aspects, they are unilateral, incoercible, although they are mandatory, they do not entail an explicit punishment in the case of not complying with them; On the other hand, the rules of law are heteronomous, they come from a competent authority and govern external aspects, they are bilateral, an obligation explains a right and vice versa, they are enforceable, they require compliance; So that Ethics consists of a series of reflections on customs, or in other words, on social phenomena.
If we want to differentiate Ethics from Morals, we can accept that ethical norms come to us from within and that moral norms come from society. The ethical norm deals with the moral evaluation of human acts.
Repeating, then: Ethics has always faced problems due to the same diversity of moral systems that present a pluralism of tendencies towards the same act; some cultures consider an act correct that for others it is not; as well as problems of the incompatibility of human freedom with moral norms; we know that the end never justifies the means, as we pointed out previously; we admit divorce, euthanasia, abortion and many societies agree with these practices even if they are at odds with morals.
Before entering the deontological issue, it is necessary to clarify that Ethics, in its practical nature, only requires that the person have the use of reason to distinguish good from evil and be ethical, without even knowing the meaning of said concept; I was personally able to verify it as I will refer to it in the following anecdote: on one occasion, I was spending my year-end vacation in the countryside when I had just finished my first year of philosophy at the San José de la Montaña Major Seminary, administered by the Compañía de Jesus; During this time I took advantage of the opportunity to enjoy, in the company of my brothers, the diaphanous and crystalline waters of a river that passed by the banks of my grandparents' property; One day, an old man came up to me and said in a very polite way: “I wanted to meet you, they have told me a lot about you.Then he continued: I do not know how to read or write, but I know what morality is, it is a force that comes from the hearts of people and makes us distinguish good from evil and teaches us to believe in God, because he who knows what who is good, he also knows what God is ”.
To date I have not forgotten what that rustic philosopher taught me in a few words; I felt sorry for having studied the classics, Aristotelian ethics and memorizing so much theory to come to the conclusion that doing good and avoiding evil is the basis of all virtues; that man was giving me a chair; Virtue means strength in Latin and precisely that definition was being given to me by that old peasant; our teachers expounded it in the same way in the times when “Moral. Urbanidad y Cívica ”were compulsory subjects for students of all levels in the educational system of El Salvador; our mentors always repeated to us that virtue is the source of good and that vice is the origin of evil and as good and evil are opposed to each other, virtue and vice are also opposed;both are supported by conditions of human nature and are affirmed by habit; moralists define virtue as integrity of mind and goodness of life, habit and disposition of the soul for actions according to the moral law and consider vice as a moral defect of conduct, as a habit of practicing evil, as a permanent deviation behavior with respect to moral rectitude; so that today we talk about ethical values, thus qualifying virtues, and ethical countervalues to vices.as a permanent deviation of behavior with respect to moral rectitude; so that today we talk about ethical values, thus qualifying virtues, and ethical countervalues to vices.as a permanent deviation of behavior with respect to moral rectitude; so that today we talk about ethical values, thus qualifying virtues, and ethical countervalues to vices.
Introduction to deontology:
It comes from the Greek word deon = duty, and logos = reasoning or science. The term was used for the first time by the English economist, legal philosopher and writer Jeremías Bentham (1748-1832) in his book Deontology of Science and Morality. This book was published in 1834, two years after the author's death.
Before delving into the subject of the Deontology of the legal professional, we wanted to clarify some concepts, and for that reason, we have exhaustively exposed what refers to Ethics as philosophy and its problems to understand the importance that it has in all the professions, since many times the deontological moral writers do not make a difference between Morals and Ethics.
If we look at the requirements of the Ethics Court, which insists that the public employee must be virtuous, it is not pointing out that it does not have private vices or that it is dishonest, it is worrying about: duties, what is convenient, what is necessary, what is opportune, what is necessary; Bentham says: "the study of learning a set of rules to increase the happiness of the individual and of others in general"; Thus we see Deontology as an application of Ethics to the professional world, which establishes behavioral guidelines in the performance of professional tasks and underlines the specific benefits that each profession brings to society; It could be said that Deontology is normative and punitive for demanding compliance with the rules,not so Ethics, which is limited to proposing principles and motivations.
Deontology focuses on the ought to be, something that is not yet; acquires a formative character; It should be noted that it is not a regulation.
In his book Deontology of Science and Morality, Bentham developed a doctrine that deals with the different duties conceived on a utilitarian basis, applied to certain social situations; It refers to the duties that each one has to himself and to others. His approach is based on facilitating the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people
Benthan's definition leads us to think that Professional Ethics is equivalent to Professional Morals, to Deontology: normative science that studies the duties, the rights of professionals as such; not only the problem of Ethics, which studies in a general way the obligations of the person. He thinks of Deontology as: "a discipline that deals with determining and regulating the set of ethical and moral responsibilities that arise in relation to the exercise of the profession, especially those of dimensions that have social repercussions." It must be understood that this approach leads us to think that Deontology is of great social responsibility, that is, that the family has moral responsibility in the formation of the individual who will dedicate himself to practicing the profession of lawyer, then goes to school and college.
Deontological requirements are interpreted in a limited way and are at the discretion of the interpreter; they are often formulated negatively or through prohibitions. When talking about the profession, one is thinking about the law, society, tradition and the way that individuals have to relate, which is equivalent to courtesy.
When we point out the antecedents of Ethics, we find many classical philosophers as pioneers of that branch of Philosophy, and when looking for the antecedents of Legal Deontology, we find that since ancient times, cultures speak of the figure of the lawyer, placing him as an important character; there are legal treaties in Egypt, Israel, India, Greece, etc.
The Laws of Manú are well known ―Treaty of the second century and important text written in Sanskrit―, where judges and civil society are advised on the value of justice: “justice strikes when it is hurt, it preserves when it is It protects her "…" Let us beware of violating justice for fear that if we hurt her she will punish us "(Law of Manú, 15). In another text, he says: "Let him discover what happens in the spirit of men through external signs, by the sound of his voice, the color of his countenance, his continent, the state of his body, his gaze and his gestures. "(Law of Manú, 25, eighth book of civil and criminal laws) and continues:" according to the state of the body, the continent, the words, the movements of the eyes and the face, the inner agitation of thought is guessed " (26).When citing the previous excerpts, we realize that in this code non-verbal language is already taken into account to interpret the statements of the accused. What he wants is that the crimes do not go unpunished.
We can also appreciate the recommendations that appear in the Book of Chronicles for the Judges of Israel or in Deuteronomy, one of the best known books in the Bible in which it says that Judges must be righteous and that they do not accept gifts because "These blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the judgments of the just" (Deut.16,19); In other texts such as those that refer to the life and work of the Prophets of Israel, in their announcements of the truth and denunciations of evil, they admonish the kings and rulers themselves, those in charge of exercising justice to be just judges and that they legislate wisely and that they watch over the poor, the helpless, that they do not oppress the weak, that they pay fair wages, that they stay away from bribery because it leads to incline favor for the guilty and condemns the innocent.
In the Book of Judges, the second of the group called "The Prophets" in the Hebrew Bible, the different stories of leaders and defenders of justice are told; they indicated to the agent their religious and moral infractions; in Hebrew law the Judges were the defense attorneys and it was the witnesses who accused; they were considered chosen by God, therefore they would have to be exemplary models of conduct for the people; In Deuteronomy, 5th book of the Old Testament, there is a legal section where the importance of the Mosaic Law is discussed; in this Hebrew law there are some guiding maxims to guide the judges in their task: “a judge must always consider that a threatening sword hangs over him and that destruction lies at his feet…”; “Be cautious and slow to judge,send many disciples and build a fence around the law… ”. “When a judge decides in disagreement with the truth, he causes the divine majesty to abandon Israel; but if he judges according to the truth, even if only for one hour, it is how everyone will affirm himself, since it is in justice that the divine presence has its habitation "(Talmud). When they judge they will not allow themselves to be influenced by anyone but they will listen to the poor as well as the rich, the powerful and the weak, and they will not be afraid of anyone because judgment is a matter of God ”(first speech of Moses, Judges 17).since it is in justice that the divine presence has its habitation "(Talmud). When they judge they will not allow themselves to be influenced by anyone but they will listen to the poor as well as the rich, the powerful and the weak, and they will not be afraid of anyone because judgment is a matter of God ”(first speech of Moses, Judges 17).since it is in justice that the divine presence has its habitation "(Talmud). When they judge they will not allow themselves to be influenced by anyone but they will listen to the poor as well as the rich, the powerful and the weak, and they will not be afraid of anyone because judgment is a matter of God ”(first speech of Moses, Judges 17).
The previous quotes serve to demonstrate that Legal Deontology has been applied since ancient times in various cultures and was closely linked to religion, although it was not given the name that is currently given to it.
The legal professional is in charge of administering justice, and passionately defends their rights when they are denied and seeks that justice is applied promptly and if the virtues are discussed, the lawyer is expected to be prudent and diligent; the lawyer knows what to do and what to avoid in order to achieve the results in favor of the one he represents and must advise his client in the same way.
Plato, referring to lawyers, says: “if justice is a virtue, litigating must be a good thing even if it is discredited by a scourge that has called itself the beautiful name of art and that in the first place affirms that there is a procedure for to sue and that this art as such and the way of arguing that arises from it can be given to anyone who gives money in exchange for them ”(Laws XI, pp. 937-938). It concludes that in an ideal city there should be no lawyers, a judgment that I consider utopian and, furthermore, it leads me to think that for Plato there is no Deontology as a particular professional Ethics of jurists, but that it takes ethical principles as universal, and that for him they govern both public and private Ethics. (Maybe,what Plato emphasizes is that each citizen has the ability to defend himself personally just as his compatriots did in the Agora).
On the other hand, Aristotle puts justice and prudence as the first of the virtues and they are the ones that distinguish the lawyer; insists that the rules must be fair and that the law is the object of justice and this is what regulates all human actions.
Many times in the Homilies of Monsignor Óscar Arnulfo Romero, the martyr Archbishop of El Salvador, we find the voice of the Prophet Isaías who condemned the unjust legislators: “poor of those who dictate unjust laws and with their decrees organize oppression, that they strip rights to the poor of my country and prevent justice from being done for them, leaving widows with nothing and stealing the orphan's inheritance ”(10-1-2).
Legal deontology
Legal deontology requires that the lawyer act with his client in the most upright manner possible, always behaving in a truthful and timely manner, ensuring his interests. Among the most common ethical requirements for lawyers are: honesty and professional secrecy, which requires not revealing the confidences that are professionally told.
Given the importance of this aspect, we will remember what professional secrecy consists of:
According to the dictionary of the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy), the secret is a truth known by one or a few people who must keep it hidden from others.
In the experts' classification of professional secrecy, they speak of the natural secret and it is distinguished because it is the one that by its very nature obliges to keep it when its disclosure could cause the person harm or displeasure; There is also talk of the promised secret, that is, the one that we have promised not to reveal, or we agree not to reveal it.
For Deontology it occurs when the pact or contract comes from the exercise of the profession; but Deontology works in the professions by means of institutional internal regulations, but very little is said in the training centers about the obligations of professionals. In some universities the Chair of Ethics revolves around Human Rights, exclusively preaching a social Ethics of coexistence.
“En el Corpus Juris del Derecho Romano2, Digesto3, (Ley 25 de Test. XXII, V) se hace referencia a la obligación de no propalar secretos respecto de abogados, procuradores y escribanos”4. Las Leyes Alfonsinas5 (1265) exigían a los escribanos que fuesen leales, buenos y hombres de confianza. El jurista Roberto Mario Arata señala tres deberes del notario: a. veracidad, b. lealtad y c: custodia del documento. Siendo sus respectivas antítesis: a. la falsedad, b. la violación del secreto profesional y c. la destrucción, violación u ocultamiento del documento público.
Legal Sociology explains how Law should be applied and what are the duties that the professional undertakes; in practice, the lawyer recognizes what his duties are to himself and to society; Duties to your client and colleagues, to the judges and to other employees of the legal entities with which you have contact.
In view of the responsibilities that it acquires, the professional must be instilled from the first years of university study, the sense of responsibility and honorability that the profession confers on the student as a lawyer; In some universities, discipline, punctuality, loyalty and other virtues are ensured, as we can see in the Institutional Mission-Vision. With these postulates or principles it is intended to influence the vocation of young aspiring legal professionals and, as an appendix to their training, the day they graduate, they are made to pronounce the oath or promise to be faithful to their profession and fulfill- comply with their ethical obligations, regardless of the sometimes adverse circumstances in which they will have to perform.In military life, esprit de corps is spoken of as the ideal of solidarity in the performance of the mission of future officers.
Regarding professional secrecy, all its relevance revolves around respecting the client's privacy, keeping confidences about their private life just as a Catholic priest would do who keeps the secret of confession; the priest who violates the secret of the confession is automatically excommunicated (canons 983 and 1388). The Canon Code in canon 9831 establishes "the sacramental seal is inviolable, therefore it is strictly forbidden to discover the penitent, by word or in any other way, and for no reason."
In Western culture, religious and professional secrecy come from Greek culture; we have news that in ancient religions there were sects that exalted secrecy as a central part of their ritual; An example is that of the Pythagoreans6, who were destroyed, and their enemies attacked the founder of the Philosophical School many times, precisely because their cult was secret. The Pythagoreans, pre-Socratic philosophers, were mystics, their rituals were magical, they had long periods of abstinence, meditation and silence, they were mathematicians; It is said that they caused a popular uprising in a city, which is why they were persecuted.
Another oath that dates to date is the Hippocratic one which is practiced to this day by the medical profession.
In our environment there are institutions that control legal professionals who in some way infringe by revealing their clients' secrets. We can mention some organizations such as: Professional Research Department (in the case of private lawyers); the judges are investigated by the National Council of the Judiciary; The Internal Regulations of the Attorney General's Office are applied to prosecutors; the Attorney General's Office also has its own regulations; In other words, in addition to the Code of Ethics, each legal entity has its own legal procedures to ensure that the professional regulates their actions.
The Penal Code is precise in indicating sanctions; for example, by hiding documents or providing false information. Health professionals are sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison. The same for manipulating information (Art.147). To the lawyers, for revealing the secrets of protected witnesses, imprisonment for 4 to 8 years (Art. 147); for disclosure of professional secrecy, there are six months to two years of professional disability or trade (Art. 187); for disclosure of industrial or commercial secret, it is six months to two years (Art. 231). I could continue to cite articles of the Penal Code or other laws or regulations, but I consider that the above are sufficient for a sample.
What has been tried to demonstrate with the mentioned appointments is that in Deontology what is related to secrecy and confidence is relevant; Every human being has secrets, we are interested in respect for the conscious action of the human being who seeks privacy, security and feels fear, shame or respect for others, which leads him to be discreet.
We are interested in promoting respect for the rights and dignity of people (confidentiality, self-determination and autonomy); we must emphasize that the person is a subject with rights; an autonomous subject, aware of what she wants or wants and who, in addition, is the owner of her actions.
In the first article of the Declaration of Human Rights, it is stated that: “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.
When a client perceives that an attorney is virtuous, they seek his services with full confidence; what the person is looking for is a professional who is not corrupt, since distrust in general exists in all professions and in the users themselves, hence the need for laws that help promote desirable behaviors and an ethical education that reminds them so much to the professional as well as to the user the importance of their profession and that they make them feel personal satisfaction for their good actions.
Towards an awareness to eradicate corruption
Ethics writers point out the importance of conscience to qualify human acts, and consider that it is the compass that points us to the path of good versus evil, they identify it as the same intelligence that judges the goodness or badness of our actions and it is easy to recognize the judgment of the conscience that approves the good act, since it causes us joy and peace; He disapproves of the bad act, the one that produces sadness and remorse. For Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, moral conscience was the retaining wall of evil and he said that it was the light of intelligence that made the distinction.
All societies accept this concept and say that consciousness is formed within the family environment and school education; It is not an imposition as many believe and it has to be in accordance with natural law, since when it is not, we act wrongly, since error and doubt can lead us to commit negative actions, hence, ignorance is often one of the biggest barriers to our social behaviors; therefore, we cannot force anyone to act against their conscience.
Without conscience there would be no feelings of guilt, the great support of our actions is the religiosity of people who act well out of love or fear of God; However, for Nietzsche and his followers, God is dead, so his vitalist philosophy only believes in the superman; because if God does not exist everything is allowed to man; remember that Friedrich Nietzsche said yes when everyone said no, his life was a contradiction and he ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
If we analyze the concept of corruption from the etymological point of view and its various semantic meanings, we find its origin in the Latin word corruptio, whose meaning is putrefaction, applied to meat specifically; subsequently variables and synonyms have been assigned applied to all fields of economic and social life. As the State is forced to face the demands of the population, which demands transparency in all activities, its existence becomes more complicated.
The major problems of corruption at all levels are based on the absence of Ethics, a discipline that should be promoted in all study plans at the different educational levels in the country. And it is that corruption is found in all sectors of society; It would not be difficult to make a classification and recognize that it begins in the family cenacle itself, when the father offers payment or reward to his children so that they comply with the completion of their schoolwork, which later becomes an obligation, endorsing the aphorism that "custom becomes law."
The most obvious act of corruption is bribery, which is generalized in public offices, where those interested in carrying out urgent procedures have to give tips or gifts to those responsible for their execution; This fact becomes a very difficult institutional culture to eradicate, since the users themselves promote it, but the one who is sanctioned is not the user but the employee.
There are legal rules to prevent abuse but they are not fully complied with, it all depends on the particular conduct of each employee or public official.
A permanent and international campaign is necessary to reach an awareness on the part of the State servants about the need for Ethics for the survival of a society in crisis that aspires to live in democracy; One should not only think about the public official, but also about corruption in the private sphere; not only think of the seduced but of the seducer; because if there are corrupt in the public ministries it is because there are corrupters in the private sphere who demand services.
If there are visible actors of corruption, there are also hidden ones; there are those who carry out the act and those who secretly subsidize it.
The globalization trend has allowed us to think that corruption is one of the greatest obstacles to the development of peoples, since its costs, both economically, politically and socially, generates more poverty and, as a consequence of the latter, is raises the growth of the crime rate.
It is de facto proven in Latin America that nepotism prevails in corrupt governments, the misappropriation of the goods and services of the people, plunging the poor into indigence, in addition to sowing social discontent, mistrust and hatred, breaking the the same political institutions, as a consequence of instability.
Governments are in search of legal and preventive measures that are true strategies to stop this scourge that corrodes the entire society; thus we can appreciate these days, congresses and meetings to adopt effective corruption prevention programs.
Among the most discussed measures are:
1. The remodeling of the Code of Ethics for public employees.
2. A system for the declaration of financial interests that offers transparency in the decisions of every official.
3. Educational programs to promote public employee awareness.
4. Efficient control systems.
5. Open communication within government.
6. Effective procurement system that emphasizes integrity and justice.
But very little is said about the need to emphasize education about values and the dissemination of Deontology among public employees.
The United States has been the pioneer in establishing ethical legislation; In 1978 they inaugurated the Ethics Office, which watches over the conduct of senior government officials with regard to the performance of functions, avoiding fraud, wasteful spending and abuses.
The Ethics Reform Act in 1989 extended its scope to subsequent employment disputes and applied to members of Congress. There are currently more than 42 federal ethical commissions in the US. Beginning in November 1944, the date on which the International Conference on Public Ethics was held, sponsored by the Office of Public Ethics of the US Information Agency, which was attended by delegates from 52 countries, the agreement was reached. that codes of conduct, financial statements and educational ethics are the keys to effective prevention against corruption.
Another of the most important international achievements in public ethics has been the INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION, signed by 21 countries in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 29, 1996.
The fundamental purpose of the treaty is to control corruption and provides for the extradition of people accused of corruption and considers international bribery illegal, in addition to adopting preventive measures, for which they agreed to mutual assistance to implement the actions required by the treaty.
Despite international efforts to prevent corruption, we believe that the causes that generate it should be analyzed in depth, especially in developing countries, where international economic pressures are greatest, where there are high rates of inflation, devaluation currency, consumer culture, low wages and excessive poverty. Countries where population growth is vertiginous and the budget for health and education is increasingly meager; All of this allows bribery, tax evasion, shady deals, smuggling, to find open ground. Where wages are low, white collar theft and embezzlement also go unnoticed.
The application of the Code of Ethics is ideal, especially today that the modernization of the State is being implemented and there is a trend towards the professionalization of public employees, which implies better salaries.
The tax and judicial system reforms will also allow the improvement of control and audit systems to combat corruption, both in public and private companies.
We must insist that we have to strengthen the education of the peoples with Ethics programs; disseminate the Code of Ethics as a preventive measure that will contribute to the effort of the State to banish corruption in our country
The Code of Ethics includes the principles of professional independence, professional secrecy, publicity of services and relationships with clients, courts and other lawyers. The Government Ethics Law is focused on the application of legal norms to employees, to such an extent that a reform is being planned to fill those gaps that the current law has; in this sense, ethical standards will become more coercive in their application.
There are several international organizations to address the ethical problem and corruption, at the international level they are: the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the Anti-Corruption Agreement between the United States Government and the Government of El Salvador and the Ibero-American Code of Judicial Ethics.
At the national level, there are the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, the Law of Illicit Enrichment of Public Officials and Employees, the Civil Service Law, the Organic Judicial Law and the Law of the Judicial Career.
Within the objectives of the Government Ethics Law, in addition to those that ensure good performance and regulation of the ethical behavior of public employees, there is a triple objective that says: to prevent, detect and punish corruption of public servants, to through illicit enrichment or acts of corruption.
It is noteworthy that in some sections of the Law there is coincidence with others that are in force such as the Civil Service Law, the Law of Illicit Enrichment and the Organic Judicial Law, since these are also ensuring that the public official maintains exemplary ethical behavior and perform its functions efficiently and effectively. The law also establishes sanctions for non-compliance or lack of suitability; It can be said that the Ethics Law is broader because it includes all the State institutions that hire public servants; Regarding the ethical sanctions established by law, they do not have to be coercive or physical; thus, written reprimands, salary discounts or dismissals are given;although it must be considered that the Ethics Court can establish suspension of the position for acts of corruption even when judicially it has not been authorized.
Deontology and professional competence
It is important to point out that it is useful to consider professional competence within the field of Ethics; We have pointed out that all professionals seek to succeed socially and economically, intellectually (scientifically), in short they seek prestige, wealth and power; achieve a dignified social status, which is not bad, all individuals have goals to achieve; But the successful professional must gather certain theoretical and practical knowledge, competencies and skills that require specific training that is legally regulated and that he must know how to use within the professional ethical field; It is assumed that during their systematic training at the University, the future professional is achieving the development of capacities to apply knowledge,skills and attitudes that will allow you to solve problems and stand out in your profession in front of your colleagues and bosses in the place where you work.
Likewise, he will have to have a command of methods, procedures, tools and equipment that facilitate his manual or intellectual activity; the postmodern world is adding surprising technological advances every day, more and more sophisticated, thanks to the advancement of communications and the mastery of cybernetics, thus being that technical competence becomes one more requirement that complements the profile of a professional; Many times we find advertisements in the newspapers offering places for professionals who are proficient in computing, who are bilingual, who know about the virtual field that the Internet offers us. But, over time, each time innovations will require changing that knowledge and replacing it with new ones that need to be regulated with standards that the unions are creating to exercise their dominance. The professional,In short, they must develop their human competencies that are nothing more than that holistic knowledge and mastery of methods, the result of the sum of their educational experiences in which, in addition to those achieved through systematic formal education, they are annexed those that are the product of non-formal education; On the assumption that the professional is integral in the development of competences, it is to be expected that to that extent he will fulfill the duties that he has towards himself and towards others, thus fulfilling the specific objective of Deontology that consists of the application of ethical principles to each of the professions; In all ethical principles, the will and intelligence of the subject must be governed without the need for coercion, which is strictly legal.must develop their human competencies that are nothing more than that holistic knowledge and mastery of methods, the result of the sum of their educational experiences in which, in addition to those achieved through systematic formal education, those that are product of non-formal education; On the assumption that the professional is integral in the development of competencies, it is to be expected that to that extent he will fulfill the duties that he has towards himself and towards others, thus fulfilling the specific objective of Deontology that consists of the application of ethical principles to each of the professions; In all ethical principles, the will and intelligence of the subject must govern without the need for coercion, which is strictly legal.must develop their human competencies that are nothing more than that holistic knowledge and mastery of methods, the result of the sum of their educational experiences in which, in addition to those achieved through systematic formal education, those that are product of non-formal education; On the assumption that the professional is integral in the development of competences, it is to be expected that to that extent he will fulfill the duties that he has towards himself and towards others, thus fulfilling the specific objective of Deontology that consists of the application of ethical principles to each of the professions; In all ethical principles, the will and intelligence of the subject must be governed without the need for coercion, which is strictly legal.
It is moral competence that ultimately acts as a compass that guides human performance and works when I ask myself if I am doing the same with my work, what I should do, what is necessary for the benefit of the society to which I owe myself; something that is transcendental for my country El Salvador and therefore for all people.
The hypothesis could be affirmed that if legal professionals are competent they could have better job opportunities, therefore better wages, better status, and their desire to preserve it would prevent them from engaging in immoral acts or malpractice.
Deontology defines, in the case of the lawyer, his role as responsible for the administration of justice, and better than any professional should be a true defender of the rights and freedoms of citizens; likewise, advise its clients and be vigilant so that the company functions in an orderly manner.
Lawyers' Deontological Codes are necessary to regulate the activities of legal professionals and to exercise disciplinary control over them.
To reinforce this research, we consulted the Code of Ethics for lawyers of the European Economic Community and found that it is based on the following general principles: independence and professional secrecy; its content is as follows: relationship with clients, relations with magistrates, relations with lawyers.
We all know that the presence of the lawyer is essential for the proper functioning of society; the cited code of ethics emphasizes the need for moral integrity so that the professional's performance is carried out with honesty, rectitude, veracity and probity. In today's society there is much talk about the dignity of the person around whom the legal order revolves; today more than ever the expert is needed to provide advice in the field of rights and duties:
The philosopher Ortega y Gasset says in his work the Rebellion of the Masses: "the masses always demand their rights but they do not fulfill their duties." Since 1948, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the fundamental values have been made known: freedom, equality and justice: “also the human being who is not capable of claiming his own rights, who needs help from others to avoid that they harm it deserves the protection of the right ”(The Dignity of the person and the right of man, Mulino Bologna, 203). For the application of Human Rights, especially the fundamental ones such as the right to life, liberty, security and for the application of civil rights, the presence of a lawyer is essential.
The preamble of the same document reads: "considering that freedom, justice and peace in the world are based on the recognition of the intrinsic dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." If we review the 30 articles that make up the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in all of them we find the need for the correct legal deontological interpretation to establish the necessary relationship with our Political Constitution, a matter that the jurist needs to find the real meaning of the law.
Conclusions
The present work is exposed from the location of Ethics within philosophy and its presence in the various stages of the history of civilization, with its variables and its attachment to natural law; In each of the stages and in the plurality of cultures, it has been stressed that the noblest thing about the legal profession is that its work, precisely, revolves around justice and equity, as the strongest bulwarks to counteract injustice and corruption, subject to which we dedicate a brief section. Society is increasingly conflictive and seeks to negotiate to resolve conflicts and it is then that the figure of the lawyer stands out, making use of his skills and competencies to achieve conciliation in a rational way between people.
The world has grown thanks to technological advance, but it has decreased morally and spiritually; justice is easily disrespected and violence spreads on a universal level; Corruption, robberies, rapes, homicides, white-collar crimes, fraud, impunity, that is what the news that reaches us daily through the different communication media is about, causing uncertainty in society.
The law has to be present to restore social order.
When legal professionals are criticized, it is because the negative or immoral actions of some professionals have been enough to universalize the trial, involving true defenders of justice; but if that judgment were true, the need for Deontology to rescue professionals and induce them towards what is good and equitable is also justified. In the Digest there is a phrase: “Ius est ars boni et aequi” (Law is the art of what is good and equitable); It reminds us of Socrates, who tells us that justice is synonymous with truth, beauty and goodness; Socrates then speaks of perfection.
Many times the Law is in disagreement with justice and Ethics with the laws, and that is when conscience signals, when the categorical imperative of truth and good places morality above the laws.
Today we realize that legislators create, modify, reform or make proposals for changes in the laws that affect the exchanges that globalization has allowed at the international level; Governments demand a minimum of protection that guarantees legal certainty to make investments and they agree to fight corruption and gang organizations; and the deontological codes include the principles of professional independence, professional secrecy, publicity of services and relationships with clients, courts and other lawyers.
The Government Ethics Law focuses on the application of legal norms applicable to those in charge of administering justice and State workers; reforms are currently being planned to fill those gaps that the current law has. In this sense, ethical norms become more coercive in their application.
I want to add, as an appendix, the Decalogues of Lawyer Eduardo Couture and that of Ángel Osorio, where the principles that inspire the vocation of jurists are condensed.
Very few law students know the decalogue of the lawyer. Next, I present two, those that collect the relevant virtues that a lawyer should have, on whom the imperative of seeking perfection in the field of his profession is imposed to be competitive based on justice, truth and solidarity.
The Decalogue is used for the student to find in it some parameters that will serve as a guide for professional growth, will help him to promote the practice of virtues and aspire to perform the profession efficiently and effectively based on Ethics.
Decalogue of the lawyer
By the jurist Ángel Ossorio (author of the work El alma de la toga).
1. Do not pass over a state of consciousness.
2. Don't affect a conviction you don't have.
3. Don't give in to popularity or flatter tyranny.
4. Always think that you are for the client and not the client for you.
5. Never try before the courts to be more than the magistrates, but do not consent to be less.
6. Have faith in reason which is what generally prevails.
7. Put morals above laws.
8. Appreciates common sense as the best of texts.
9. Seek peace as the greatest of triumphs.
10. Always seek justice for the change of sincerity and without other weapons than those of your knowledge.
Decalogue of the lawyer
By Eduardo J. Couture
• STUDY. The law is constantly being transformed. If you don't follow in his footsteps, you will be a little less a lawyer every day.
• THINK. Law is learned studying, but is exercised thinking.
• WORK. The legal profession is a long toil at the service of justice.
• FIGHT. Your duty is to fight for the Law, but the day you find the law in conflict with justice, fight for justice.
• BE LOYAL. Loyal to your client, whom you must not abandon until you understand that he is unworthy of you. Loyal to the adversary, even when he is disloyal to you. Loyal to the judge, who ignores the facts and must trust what you tell him; and that, as for the law, from time to time, he must trust the one you invoke him.
• TOLERA. Tolerate other people's truth to the same extent that you want yours to be tolerated.
• BE PATIENT. Time takes revenge on things that are done without its collaboration.
• HAVE FAITH. Have faith in the Law, as the best instrument for human coexistence; in justice, as the normal destiny of law; in peace, as a kind substitute for justice; and above all, have faith in freedom, without which there is no Law, no justice, and no peace.
• FORGET. The lawyer is a figth of passions. If in every battle you were charging your soul with resentment, there will come a day when life will be impossible for you. After the combat, forget your victory as soon as your defeat.
• LOVE YOUR PROFESSION. Try to consider the legal profession in such a way that the day your son asks you for advice on her destiny, you consider it an honor for you to propose that she become a lawyer.
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