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The Noble Field Of Law

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For decades, those who have chosen to enter the noble field of law have been subject to guidelines governing how legal professionals are expected to behave. The history of those guidelines is actually quite interesting. If traced back as far as possible, the rules that govern moral and ethical expectations of lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals were derived from ethical theory articulated by some of the greatest minds of the nineteenth century. One such publication was David Hoffman 's A Course of Legal Study (2d ed. 1836).1 Hoffman’s study covers for distinct articles, the very first of which is titled “Moral and Political Philosophy.” Hoffman goes on to discuss relevant elementary and constitutional principles, real rights and …show more content…

Its publication marked a turning point in the history of the legal profession.1
“In America, where the stability of Courts and of all departments of government rests upon the approval of the people, it is peculiarly essential that the system for establishing and dispensing Justice be developed to a high point of efficiency and so maintained that the public shall have absolute confidence in the integrity and impartiality of its administration. The future of the Republic, to a great extent, depends upon our maintenance of Justice pure and unsullied. It cannot be so maintained unless the conduct and the motives of the members of our profession are such as to merit the approval of all just men.”4
(Emphasis added.) This excerpt taken from the original Canons is the preamble, the first thing read, and a summary describing the purpose of the rules. Since the introduction of the Canons, over the years the American Bar Association has made changes to the rules. On August 12, 1969 the Canons of Professional Ethics was formally changed and adopted by the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association under the new title: Model Code of Professional Responsibility.1 In 1977 the Commission on Evaluation of Professional Standards was created by the Association and tasked

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