Morality, Law, and Judicial Ethics in the Western Legal Tradition

Abstract

The focus of our symposium will be on judicial ethics, but I have been given a somewhat broader charge, relating morality, law, and legal ethics generally to the Western legal tradition as a whole. This topic is dear to my heart, important, fascinating, and very useful, but it requires some caution at the beginning, because our ultimate subject is universal, not parochial. The essence of legal and judicial ethics arises from human nature, which is the same everywhere, and therefore all societies participate or should participate equally in the search for justice and the rule of law. The Western legal tradition provokes our interest because its history is so well-known and well-recorded, but every legal tradition and all nations participate in this same vital struggle towards peace and justice through the rule of law.

Keywords: Western Legal Tradition, judicial ethics, morality, corpus juris civilis

JEL Classification: K00