I Do Solemnly Swear: The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials

Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
Preface: Moral Officials, Retail Justice, and Three Caveats......Page 17
The idea of retail justice......Page 21
Caveat emptor: we will talk about morality......Page 23
A second caveat: the sources are untidy......Page 24
Third caveat: we are talking about morals as a basis for official conduct......Page 25
Acknowledgments......Page 29
Introduction: Seven Questions about What Is Fit for an Official to Do......Page 31
What should be fit for an official to do?......Page 32
1. What Are Legal Officials, the Law, and the Legal Obligations of Officials?......Page 33
2. What Is at Stake? Why, or How, Is It Helpful to Consider Any Obligations of Officials Other than Those Imposed Exclusively by the Laws?......Page 34
4. If so, What Is the Content of These Obligations upon Legal Officials?......Page 35
7. What Tools Assist an Official to Do Justice and Discourage Injustice?......Page 36
The Severability of These Questions......Page 37
1 Law and Office......Page 38
Perceptions of law......Page 41
The Law as Perceived by Officials: Archive and Professional Culture......Page 42
Law Perceived by Citizens: Signs and Acts, Impersonal and Personal......Page 46
The concept of the legal official......Page 48
Defining the official......Page 49
Discretion and the Definition of the Legal Office......Page 51
Isolating Discretion within the Role......Page 52
Role Discretion and the Definition of the Legal Official......Page 53
The Moral Ecologies of Legal Officials......Page 56
The Personal Motivation of Officials......Page 58
Self-image:......Page 60
Reflected Image:......Page 61
Public Image:......Page 62
Aggregated Image:......Page 65
Anxiety......Page 67
The legal obligations of legal officials......Page 68
The Sources of Officials’ Legal Obligations to Act......Page 70
Officials’ Discretion Regarding Sources of Obligations to Act......Page 71
Resolving Legal Obligations upon the Official as Official......Page 72
Resolving Conflict between Obligations as Official and Citizen......Page 73
Official actions, reasons, and corporate actions......Page 74
2 The Stakes: The Interests of Others in Official Actions......Page 79
The Obedience of Subjects......Page 80
The Obedience of Officials......Page 81
The Unanswered Questions of Obedience......Page 82
Subjects and Their Stakes in the Law......Page 83
Puritan Law: The Lawes and Libertyes as Partial Archive:......Page 84
Puritan Law: Official Culture:......Page 87
The Perception of Colonial Subjects.......Page 90
Modern Reflections on the Colonial Subjects Perspective.......Page 92
A Second Case Study from Colonial Massachusetts......Page 95
The Salem Trials:......Page 96
Three Salem Officials:......Page 97
Stoughton.......Page 98
Sewall.......Page 99
Jones.......Page 100
Four Models of Legal Official......Page 101
Official influence on the lives of others: nine metaphors......Page 105
The Dangers of Metaphor......Page 107
The Sword......Page 113
The Shield......Page 114
The Balance......Page 116
The Coin......Page 117
The Commons......Page 120
The Guide......Page 121
The Mirror......Page 122
The Seal......Page 124
The Veil......Page 127
Holding the stakes......Page 129
3 Officials’ Obligations Arise from More Than the Law Alone......Page 132
Legal definitions of office incorporate nonlegal obligations......Page 133
Oaths of Office......Page 135
Office and the Rule of Law: The Promise of Independence......Page 139
Natural Law as a Critique of Officials......Page 141
Moral Assessment of Official Acts......Page 142
The stakes and the special temptations of power......Page 146
The Official Accepts Responsibility for the Stakes......Page 147
Tribalism......Page 149
Conformity......Page 150
Domination......Page 151
The Challenge of Office to Morality......Page 152
Synthesizing moral obligations from different sources......Page 153
4 The Moral Obligations of Legal Officials......Page 154
Initial problems......Page 155
Listening to the Right Voices......Page 156
Those Who Fear the Stakes:......Page 157
Those Whose Ox Is to Be Gored:......Page 158
Voices from Past Injustice:......Page 159
Listening to the Wrong Voices......Page 160
Partisan Voices:......Page 161
Conformist Voices:......Page 162
Voices of Lucre:......Page 163
Voices Others Cannot Hear:......Page 164
Developing a Coherent View of Duties from Sources and Cases......Page 166
The Dangers of Taxonomy and the Catalogues of Virtues......Page 169
Charity: The Fundamental Obligation......Page 171
The Persistence of Charity as the Foundation of Duty to Others:......Page 172
A Summary of Official Charity:......Page 182
Narratives and Cases:......Page 183
Knowledge......Page 186
Personal Virtues......Page 188
Prudence:......Page 189
Truth:......Page 190
Humility:......Page 191
Action:......Page 194
Personal Virtue and Personal Morality:......Page 197
Carrying Out the Duties of Office......Page 198
Obedience to the Law as a Citizen......Page 199
Promoting Truth and Law over Officials and Superiors......Page 200
Fidelity to the Purposes of Law......Page 201
Fidelity in the Practice of Law......Page 202
Procedural Obligations: Fairness in Creation, Application, Change, and Practice......Page 203
Evolving Obligations......Page 204
The Special Obligations of the People as Sovereign......Page 206
Good faith......Page 208
5 Patterns of Relationship between Legal and Moral Obligations......Page 209
The Laws Claim to Obedience, Again......Page 210
The Problem of Civil Disobedience......Page 211
Obedience to the Law or to Officials......Page 212
The Problem of Viewpoint......Page 213
Justice Ascertained by Overlapping Consensus......Page 214
Injustice as a Measure of Justice......Page 215
Patterns of legal and moral obligation: the problem of officials......Page 216
Agreement between Legal and Moral Obligations......Page 218
Moral Obligations Reinforce Legal Reasons to Act......Page 219
Moral Obligations Provide Reasons to Act within Legal Discretion......Page 220
Officials Alter Their Legal Obligations......Page 221
Officials Alter Their Moral Obligations......Page 223
Officials Alter Their Role Discretion......Page 224
Irreconcilable Conflict between Legal and Moral Obligations......Page 226
Officials Breach Their Moral Obligations......Page 227
Officials Breach Their Legal Obligations......Page 229
Officials Resign from Office......Page 231
6 Breaching Obligations......Page 233
Whether “Ought” Implies “Can”......Page 234
Dirty Hands......Page 235
Three Forms of Dirty Hands......Page 236
The Occasional Ruse of Dirty Hands......Page 237
Breaching obligations......Page 239
Oversight and the Legal System......Page 240
Acts and Omissions......Page 242
Legal Obligations and the Scope of Office......Page 243
Breaching Moral Obligations......Page 244
Systemic Moral Failures and Individual Responsibility......Page 246
Private Image: Regret and Guilt......Page 251
Public Image: Reputation and Shame......Page 252
Law, Image, and Politics: The Limited Remedies for Moral Breach......Page 254
7 Tools for the Trade: Maxims and Fallacies......Page 256
The nature of maxims......Page 257
Follow the Law, Both in Its Spirit and to Its Letter......Page 261
Follow the Law, Both as an Official and as a Citizen......Page 262
The Office Does Not Belong to the Officer, Sponsor, or Party, but to the Law......Page 263
The Law Is Not a Church......Page 264
Protect the Law, and the People Subject to It, from Other Officials......Page 265
Pursue the Least Unjust Result......Page 266
Act Toward Others as You Would Hope They Would Act Toward You if the Roles Were Reversed......Page 267
Officials Must Know the Law and the Facts from Every Perspective......Page 269
Officials Ensure the Truth......Page 270
Officials Must Balance Discretion in Office with Deference to Other Officials......Page 271
Good Officials Solve Problems......Page 273
Good Officials Correct Mistakes, Even Old Ones......Page 274
Good Officials Make Their Own Decisions......Page 276
Good Officials Must Act with Courage......Page 277
Officials Must Follow the Procedures of Law......Page 278
Officials Must Pursue Justice......Page 279
Legal office and moral error......Page 280
The nature of fallacies......Page 281
Morality Is a Private Indulgence, Not a Public Need......Page 282
Ad hominem: It Is False Because of Who Said It......Page 283
Ad verecundiam: It is True Because It Was Said by Authority......Page 284
Ad patronum: It Is True Because My Backer Wants It So......Page 285
False Binarism: There Is Only One Choice Between Two Options......Page 287
Exceptional Case: The Rules Do Not Apply in This Case or to This Person......Page 288
Treason: Questioning Officials Is Disloyal......Page 291
Tu quoque: They Did It, So We May Do It......Page 292
Epilogue: What the Official Ought to Do......Page 294
Overview......Page 297
Law of the Person, 170 lines......Page 298
Property, 247 lines......Page 299
Natural Resources, 77 lines......Page 300
Index......Page 301