I am Not a High Priest in a Secular Military

Abstract

I made this remark to a colleague from the Canadian Department of National Defence in the margins of a seminar in 2015 in Montreal. It was a facetious remark intended to affirm my colleague and his excellent points, through a satirical device. I had not, at the time, fully explored the meaning behind the remark, but in retrospect I find that there is a lot of meaning and that it is a useful tool to organise my arguments in this paper. First, the remark is true because too much is sometimes expected of the law and legal advisers. Secondly, the reference to ‘high priest’ suggests a formal, stratified regime of pontification on the law and its related elements. Thirdly, I do belong to a secular military. Fourthly, it does raise a question: if the lawyer is not responsible for moral elements of operational decisions, who is? Fifthly, I suggest that we do not need to allocate responsibility to a particular person for the moral element. Sixthly, the remark is facetious because the concern does not actually warrant formal escalation — and, of course, I’ll explain why I take that position. Finally, I’ll suggest an antidote — notwithstanding that it involves a difficult ‘pill to swallow’.

Keywords: Canadian Department of National Defence

JEL Classification: K10