Law, Deontology and Utilitarianism

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses utilitarianism, an ethical philosophy which holds that the right course of action is the course of action which provides the greatest good. The paper then looks at deontological ethics that believes a person has certain duties which he should carry out. The paper looks at Immanuel Kant's deontological beliefs of moral duties and discusses how duty requires a defense lawyer to zealously represent the defendant even if he/she knows that a client is guilty and believes that if the client is not imprisoned, he/she will commit more crimes. The paper further explains that an attorney is required to not take a case in which he cannot give zealous representation.

From the Paper:

"Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy which holds that the right course of action is the course of action which provides the greatest good or the greatest number. As articulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, this ethic holds that the two controlling emotions in life are pleasure and pain. Man prefers pleasure. Thus, for the isolated individual, an action producing pleasure is good; an action producing pain is bad. For a person in society, an action is good if the pleasure felt by all those affected is greater than the pain felt by those affected. (Hollinger 2002, pp. 32-33; Bentham, 1949; Mill, 1979)"

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Bar Association. Code of Professional Responsibility. Disciplinary Rules 5-101 and 7-101.
• Bentham, Jeremy. The Principles of Morals and Legislation. Darien, Connecticut: Hafner, 1949.
• Hollinger, Dennis. Choosing the Good. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2002).
• Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The Path of the Law." Harvard Lawyer Review. 1897, vol 10, p. 457.
• Kant, Immanuel. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Lewis Beck, trans. Indianapolis, Indiana: Bobbs-Merrill, 1959.

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