- Monday, May 8th
- 15.15 - 16.45
- Heinrichstraße 28, HS 10.01
Abstract
According to the ‘thesis of continuity’ political stability in a liberal democratic society requires a sound ethos to work well. A legal ethos has special importance because of its public role in institutions. In a constructive mode I argue for the best model to inspire legal professionals’ conduct. I start by considering the shortcomings of professionals as they appear from deontological codes and sociological analysis but also as nourished by the ‘formal-legal rationality’, theorized by Max Weber. This leaves political institutions without an ethos and prey of capitalistic greed and ‘amorality’. As antidotes I propose to examine at least two models proposed by Dworkin (Hercules), Kronman (the lawyer-statesman) and, finally, the model of ‘the reasonable judge’ who combines three qualities that are central to any legal professional: craft, practical wisdom and rhetoric. Legal ethos can be revived if models of this kind become part of the legal educational curriculum.