Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?

Autores
Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique
Año de publicación
2015
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
The question I address in this paper is whether it is morally wrong for a lawyer to represent a client whose purpose is immoral or unjust. My answer to this question is that it is wrong, prima facie. This conclusion holds, even accepting certain traditional principles of lawyers professional ethics, such as the right of defense and the so-called principle of adversarial litigation. Both the adversarial system and the right of defense are sufficient to support or justify the right of potential clients (and citizens in general) to defend their interests in the judicial system and to do so with the technical assistance of a lawyer. This right includes a right to pursue unjust or immoral purposes (within the law). However, having a right to do X does not mean that it is morally right to do X. We can have a right to do something morally wrong. This being so, the fundamental moral reason for a lawyer not to accept representation for a client with an immoral purpose is that it is, prima facie, morally wrong to help someone do something wrong.
Fil: Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina
Materia
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
LAWYERS
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/111432
Acceder
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spelling Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?Rivera López, Eduardo EnriquePROFESSIONAL ETHICSLAWYERShttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6The question I address in this paper is whether it is morally wrong for a lawyer to represent a client whose purpose is immoral or unjust. My answer to this question is that it is wrong, prima facie. This conclusion holds, even accepting certain traditional principles of lawyers professional ethics, such as the right of defense and the so-called principle of adversarial litigation. Both the adversarial system and the right of defense are sufficient to support or justify the right of potential clients (and citizens in general) to defend their interests in the judicial system and to do so with the technical assistance of a lawyer. This right includes a right to pursue unjust or immoral purposes (within the law). However, having a right to do X does not mean that it is morally right to do X. We can have a right to do something morally wrong. This being so, the fundamental moral reason for a lawyer not to accept representation for a client with an immoral purpose is that it is, prima facie, morally wrong to help someone do something wrong.Fil: Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; ArgentinaWiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc2015-05info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/111432Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique; Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Journal of Applied Philosophy; 32; 2; 5-2015; 177-1891468-5930CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/japp.12082info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/japp.12082info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:50:51Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/111432instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:50:51.28CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
title Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
spellingShingle Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
LAWYERS
title_short Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
title_full Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
title_fullStr Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
title_full_unstemmed Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
title_sort Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique
author Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique
author_facet Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
LAWYERS
topic PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
LAWYERS
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv The question I address in this paper is whether it is morally wrong for a lawyer to represent a client whose purpose is immoral or unjust. My answer to this question is that it is wrong, prima facie. This conclusion holds, even accepting certain traditional principles of lawyers professional ethics, such as the right of defense and the so-called principle of adversarial litigation. Both the adversarial system and the right of defense are sufficient to support or justify the right of potential clients (and citizens in general) to defend their interests in the judicial system and to do so with the technical assistance of a lawyer. This right includes a right to pursue unjust or immoral purposes (within the law). However, having a right to do X does not mean that it is morally right to do X. We can have a right to do something morally wrong. This being so, the fundamental moral reason for a lawyer not to accept representation for a client with an immoral purpose is that it is, prima facie, morally wrong to help someone do something wrong.
Fil: Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Torcuato Di Tella; Argentina
description The question I address in this paper is whether it is morally wrong for a lawyer to represent a client whose purpose is immoral or unjust. My answer to this question is that it is wrong, prima facie. This conclusion holds, even accepting certain traditional principles of lawyers professional ethics, such as the right of defense and the so-called principle of adversarial litigation. Both the adversarial system and the right of defense are sufficient to support or justify the right of potential clients (and citizens in general) to defend their interests in the judicial system and to do so with the technical assistance of a lawyer. This right includes a right to pursue unjust or immoral purposes (within the law). However, having a right to do X does not mean that it is morally right to do X. We can have a right to do something morally wrong. This being so, the fundamental moral reason for a lawyer not to accept representation for a client with an immoral purpose is that it is, prima facie, morally wrong to help someone do something wrong.
publishDate 2015
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2015-05
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/111432
Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique; Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Journal of Applied Philosophy; 32; 2; 5-2015; 177-189
1468-5930
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/111432
identifier_str_mv Rivera López, Eduardo Enrique; Is it Morally Wrong to Defend Unjust Causes as a Lawyer?; Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc; Journal of Applied Philosophy; 32; 2; 5-2015; 177-189
1468-5930
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/japp.12082
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/japp.12082
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley Blackwell Publishing, Inc
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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score 13.069144

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