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The Ethics Of Dissent And Friendship In The American Professions, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Professional ethics is commonly understood as a creature of the establishment—the study of what the better doctors and lawyers do and impose on their colleagues. But this traditional notion of ethics conveys a message that professionals need only care for their clients or patients to a certain point whether it is the end of the professional’s expertise, the end of the contract or the end of an assigned task. But this ethical understanding loses the sense of professionals serving a community. This Article dissents from that common understanding of ethics and tells dissenting-professional stories that show professional ethics through the …

The "Natural Law Tradition", John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This "tradition of natural law theory" has three main features: First, critique and rejection of ethical scepticism, dogmatism and conventionalism; Second, clarification of the methodology of descriptive and explanatory social theories (e.g., political science, economics, jurisprudence .... ); Third, critique and rejection of aggregative conceptions of the right and the just (e.g., consequentialism, utilitarianism, wealth-maximization, "proportionalism"...).

Getting Serious About Legal Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

This essay is a slightly reworked version of the introduction lo the author's book American Legal Ethics (1985). Copyright 1985 by Matthew Bender & Co. , Inc. ; reprinted with permission. Portions of this essay originally appeared as an article in The University of Baltimore Law Forum, Fall, 1983, p. 6, and are used here with the permission of that journal.

The Gentleman In Professional Ethics, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

The character of the “gentlemen” has served as a basis for ethics in professionalism. The purpose of this article is to describe the gentleman’s ethics, to explain its implications on the legal profession, to test its adequacy, and to argue that the gentleman’s ethic veered wrong by moving away from its religious tradition. In particular, the author analyzes its adequacy by engaging in four tests including (1) whether the gentleman’s ethic survives conceptions of class and professionalism; (2) whether it provides the skills needed for dealing with power and institutions; (3) whether it takes into account the “tragic nature of …

Natural Law And The "Is"-"Ought" Question: An Invitation To Professor Veatch, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This Article invites Professor Henry Veatch to consider some of Finnis' previous work. Finnis asserts that his work presents "serious questions" for those who interpret Aristotle and Acquinas in the way the Veatch does and invites Veatch to respond.

The Legal Ethics Of Servanthood, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

I would like mainly to talk with you about, a consequential question, and that is whether the ethics of the New Testament are of any value in discussing professional morality. Such a question is probably f value to Jews and Christians; the New Testament is mostly about Jesus of Nazareth and (1) professionals to whom Jesus is of ultimate importance might claim to find value for their lives in his life. And (2) the God of Jesus is the God of Israel. The moral principles of Jesus are the moral principles of Israel. The question is of value, too, I …

Balzacian Legality: A Proposal For Natural Law Juridicial Standards Of Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Journal Articles

The task of the present article is twofold. First, it represents an attempt to make an original English language contribution to the continuing interdisciplinary inquiry, begun in France, into the presence of law in Balzac's The Human Comedy, by focusing upon themes and novels that have not been the subject of previous individual study. Second, it seeks to contribute to an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States – the study of law and literature – by providing an example of the insights one French novelist with legal training and experience had into questions that …

The Moral Theology Of Atticus Finch, Thomas L. Shaffer

Journal Articles

Heroes are identified by the needs of those who choose them. In the case of Atticus Finch, heroism centered on his insistence in telling the truth. In this article, Thomas L. Shaffer explores the idea that this truth was (I) an expression of the person he was and of the community he sought for his children and neighbors; (II) an expression of the virtue of courage and also (and therefore) the expression of a theology; (III) a political act; and (IV) a professional act. As early as 1854, Judge Sharswood (chief justice, law dean and eminent lawyer) could draw a …

Balzacian Legality, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Journal Articles

The study of law and literature is an area of growing interest to legal scholars in the United States. Honore de Balzac incorporated in his works a panoramic view of the social reality of nineteenth century France. In this context, the fidelity of Balzac's plots and characters to their external models has been well-documented in a number of fields, including sociology, commerce, and finance. In addition to this penchant for realism, however, Balzac laced his novels with an equally evident moral content. This commitment to accuracy and morality also influenced Balzac's novelistic treatment of the law and lawyers.

Balzac's work …