Professional legal ethics: types, code, concept

Of the great variety of modern varietiesprofessional ethics should be identified legal. This category is closely connected with the peculiarities of legal activity, in the course of which human destinies are often decided. What legal ethics? Value is it growing or dying today? Why? These and other equally important questions can be found in the process of getting acquainted with the materials of this article.

Legal ethics: concept

Legal Ethics This is a special category,activities are promoted by specialists of different professions of legal orientation. Among them are prosecutors, lawyers, investigators, judges, employees of law enforcement agencies, state security, legal advisers, customs officers, notaries, tax police officers and so on.

It is important to note that for each of theToday professions have their own codes regarding professional ethics, which are fixed in various regulations and documents. So, stands out legal ethics of a lawyer, judges, prosecutors and many other categories. It should be noted that the current codes include the following items:

• Code of honor of the judge.
• Code of honor of the judge in relation to the Constitutional Court.
• Rules of professional ethics in relation to counsel.
• Code of legal ethics in terms of the honor of the employees of the bodies and the relevant units of internal affairs.
• Oath of the prosecutor's office.
• The norms of the Criminal Code, as well as the Code of Criminal Procedure.

So, professional legal ethics lawyer is impossible without the documents listed above. In addition, an important role is played by simple norms of morality, which are not fixed in the codes. Anyway, this should be remembered.

It would be useful to conclude that legal ethics - nothing more than a kind of professionalEthics, which is an organized set of standards of conduct for employees of the legal field. The latter, in one way or another, are fixed in regulations, codes and oaths that regulate both official and off-duty behavior of workers in this sphere.

Content of legal ethics

It turned out, legal ethics system due to the specifics of the activities of employeesThe legal field contains judicial, prosecutorial, investigative, advocacy ethics, ethics of internal affairs employees, as well as state security, including various structural divisions, legal services of enterprises, joint-stock companies and firms, as well as the ethics of teachers of legally-oriented educational institutions and legal scholars.

It is important to note that further integration andspecialization of legal activity can cause the formation of fundamentally new types of legal ethics. Already today, for example, there is a question about the ethics of a software lawyer or computer user.

Anyway, professional legal ethics is not limited to judicial ethics alone. By the way, this position in history occupies a special place. Thus, the authors of the Judicial Handbook, which was published in 1972, presented judicial ethics as "a broad, generic concept that covers the activities not only of judges, but also of investigators, prosecutors, lawyers, persons conducting inquiries and other persons who contribute to justice "(page 33 of the Judicial Handbook). The authors of this book proceeded primarily from the fundamental place of the judiciary in the general system of state law enforcement agencies. In addition, under Article 10 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the judiciary is nothing but a special branch of state power.

Why was legal ethics equal to judicial ethics?

Why professional ethics of legal activity was equal to the judicial one? The reason for this can be seen in the fact that, in accordance with Article 118 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, justice in the Russian Federation is made exclusively by judicial bodies through constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal proceedings. Thus, all the activities of subjects of professional-legal relations, which precedes the trial, works for the judiciary. In other words, it is carried out for the sake of the work of justice in relation to this or that matter.

So, all types of legal ethics were formed on the basis of judicial ethics. The established common goal, which, in one way or another, concerns the activities carried out by all law enforcement agencies; the similarity of the moral and professional requirements imposed on the subjects of this activity, and became the main factor that led to the emergence of such a consolidating term as judicial ethics. By the way, it is often defined as a "science about the moral roots of judicial and other related activities."

With all the fully deserved respect forjudicial bodies as an important part of the state law enforcement system as a whole related to the protection of legitimate interests and rights of both legal and natural persons, their activities can not cover all aspects without exception, which concern a multifaceted and large-scale understanding of legal activities. That is why all types of legal ethics are only sections of the professional ethics of legal professionals. It is necessary to supplement that the situation also concerns judicial ethics.

Analysis of other sub-sectors of ethics

As it was noted, ethics of legal activity, besides judicial, includes other sub-sectors. This includes the ethics of a legal adviser (a business lawyer); and the ethics of a lawyer who is called upon to assist a suspect, defendant, accused or victim in accordance with his qualifications (ethics of lawyers); and the ethics of a specialist lawyer, disclosing crimes and investigating criminal cases and so on.

In the autumn of 1901, Anatoly Fedorovich Koni putbegan reading the course on criminal justice. The event was held in the Alexandrov Lyceum. In 1902, in the Journal of the Ministry of Justice, he published his introductory lecture entitled "Moral Principles Regarding the Criminal Process", the subtitle was the phrase "Features of legal ethics". In the next chapter, it is advisable to discuss the moral rules that define each of the currently known varieties of legal ethics.

Moral rules

Each type of legal ethics (for example, legal ethics of a lawyer, lawyer, judge, prosecutor and so on) togetherwith moral principles of a general orientation is also endowed with a specific set of rules of morality. The latter, in one way or another, are due to the characteristics of legal activity. Therefore, on legal grounds, one can speak about scientific directions, in accordance with which the study of not only judicial, but also investigative, lawyer ethics and so on is carried out. Moreover, legal ethics in this case is the base on which the presented varieties are formed.

It would be useful to conclude thatenrichment of the content of each species is nothing but a qualitative and quantitative improvement of knowledge with respect to legal ethics in general. At the same time, one must never lose sight of the fact that the moral standards, professional and moral requirements underlying varieties and presented to the relevant actors are fixed through legal norms and are implemented in law enforcement activities that, in one way or another, relate to the issue under consideration.

That is why professional ethics in the legal professions any of the forms includes only normsmorals and attitudes that arise in the process of actual legal activities of a particular lawyer, be it a judge, lawyer, prosecutor or representatives of other professions of this category. The provisions presented in the chapter, one way or another, necessitate the study of general requirements, which, as a rule, are presented to lawyers, regardless of their specialization.

Code of legal ethics

Under the code of professional ethics of a lawyershould be understood as a system of moral principles that underlie its activities and serve as a guide in the philosophical and methodological plan. It is important to note that it is impossible to provide a full list of the moral principles of the specialist in question, because each individual is individual, that is why each person can bear a greater or lesser number of these moral principles in a different combination.

Nevertheless, to date, there arekey moral principles, without which a lawyer can not take place in a state governed by the rule of law. It is they who make up the content of the code regarding the activities of a professional lawyer. It will be advisable to consider the relevant items in more detail.

The rule of law and humanity

Such a legal ethics, as the rule of law, means awarenessa professional in the legal field of his own mission of serving the law and law, as well as compliance with the rule of law. So, a lawyer in practical terms can not identify the definitions of law and law, however, and should not oppose these terms. It should be noted that, one way or another, he undertakes to invoke the following consideration: the law in any legal state is fair, legal and subject to strict enforcement. Moreover, even if a certain law, in accordance with the opinion of a specialist, does not completely share the ideas of a law-based state, it undertakes to stand guard over compliance with all provisions of this legal act. Such circumstances in some respect reflect the principle of the priority of law, the connection with the law, which in any case can not be refuted. So, it is professional lawyers who are called upon to fight against nihilism, legal anarchy, and also to be the guardians of the law and the "servants" of law.

In addition to the rule of law, legal ethics It contains an absolutely humane attitude to allpeople. This principle is included in the code of professional ethics. It is important to note that he stresses the following provision: only a high qualification (namely a diploma and subsequent certification) is not enough to become a professional employee of legal work. Therefore, it is important not to forget that a serious meaning is given to his caring attitude to absolutely every individual with whom the specialist faces in the performance of his official duties. It must be remembered that all people with whom a lawyer communicates (this includes victims, witnesses, defendants, suspects, etc.), treat him not only as a performer of a specific professional role, but also as a person with some characteristics of positive and negative orientation.

It is important to note that each individual whodue to certain circumstances, communicates with a judge, an investigator, a prosecutor or a lawyer, expects from them both a professional (qualified) performance of duties, and a respectful attitude towards himself and his problem. After all, the culture of a lawyer is judged by his attitude to absolutely every person individually. So, the respectful disposition of the professional to the individual with all of its problems makes it possible to form a psychologically special atmosphere, as well as to ensure success in the legal matter.

What is necessary to be understood with respectattitude to people? A humane attitude is nothing more than an attitude, where in practical terms (in connection with certain motives and actions), one way or another, one recognizes the dignity of the individual. The concept of respect, which has developed in the public consciousness, implies the following categories: equality of rights, justice, trust in people, maximum level of satisfaction of human interests, attentive attitude to people's beliefs and their problems, politeness, sensitivity, delicacy.

Practicing the idea in practice

To my great regret, in practical terms, the ideathat the person, his dignity and honor - above all, today has not fully mastered the lawyers. By the way, especially this situation is typical for the staff of modern law enforcement agencies.

Often, police officers in the process of their ownactivities infringe upon the rights of victims through ordinary inaction - refusal to initiate criminal cases and register crimes, despite sufficient grounds for this. It is important to remember that an inexhaustible harm to such relationships as a "lawyer-client" is inflicted through the bureaucratic thinking of a number of "ministers of the law". The fact is that in the case of such thinking, there is no place in the legal profession for a person. By the way, for the bureaucrat the individual is sometimes an excellent tool for solving issues that are significant for society. However, as a rule, a person for him is an obstacle to the solution of such questions. So, there is a situation: for the public good, the interests and rights of a particular person are infringed.

Bureaucracy is always anti-democraticcharacter, however in law enforcement bodies it is much more dangerous, because in this case there are many opportunities for suppressing a person as a person. In addition, with a great desire, it is here that one can imperceptibly erase the boundary that separates arbitrariness from justice. In order to avoid such circumstances, it is necessary to return to law enforcement the originally conceived purpose, consisting in protecting people and giving them a reliable guarantor of justice.

Decency

The next feature of such a category as legal ethicsis decency. It is one of the basic principles of a fairly high moral degree of professional operations. This principle is interpreted as an organic inability to act inhuman nature. First of all, the use of the presented rule is noticeable in the methods and techniques used by a legal professional in his own activities.

It should be noted that to achieve absolutelyAny goal a lawyer chooses such methods and methods that in any case do not contradict the legal and moral norms. The fact is that in a legislative way it is impossible to regulate all sorts of nuances that, one way or another, are connected with legal practice. That is why in certain situations the good name or even the fate of a person and his relatives depends on the decency of a judge, investigator or notary.

It is important to know that decency is inherenta professional lawyer is built on the following qualities: sympathy, trust, truthfulness, honesty. By the way, the presented characteristics should appear in absolutely all types of relationships: “lawyer-client”, “manager-subordinate”, “colleague-colleague” and so on.

Confidence

Under the trust should understand the attitude of a personto the actions and actions of another person, as well as to himself. Confidence is primarily based on the conviction of the rightness of this person, honesty, integrity, loyalty.

Today, management often sees in itsrepaired only performers of their own will. They forget that, first of all, they are people with positive and negative qualities characteristic of them, with their own concerns and problems. In the present situation, the subordinate does not feel needed, he cannot feel himself as a person in full, especially when the authorities often show him rudeness.

By the way, so intolerable situation, one way orotherwise, it forms in the collective such conditions, in accordance with which coarseness and callousness is transferred to communication with colleagues and other people. It is important to say that in order to avoid this, management must constantly take care of each member of the team. So, sometimes he is only required to ask about the family problems of the subordinate; find out his point of view on issues that, one way or another, relate to the organization of the work process; give it an objective assessment as a specialist. Exclusively in the case of such an approach, the subordinate sincerely realizes that the interests of the business are nothing but his own interests. It was then that the most successful result of joint professional activities in the legal sphere is achieved. This must always be remembered and, of course, guided by this principle in practice.

As we see, professional ethics is very important not only for the specialist himself, but also for his business and close circle.