LEGAL ETHICS , PROFESSION AND ADVOCATES

Advocacy is not a craft but a calling; a profession wherein devotion to duty constitutes
the hallmark. Sincerity of performance and the earnestness of endeavour are the two
wings that will bare aloft the advocate to the tower of success. This is the reason why
legal profession is regarded to be a noble one.
" A lawyer, without the most sterling integrity, may shine for a while with meteoric
splendour, but his light will soon go out in blackness of darkness. It is not in every
man’s power to rise to eminence by distinguished abilities. It is not in every man’s
power, with few exceptions, to attain respectability, competence ,and usefulness.
The temptations, which beset a young man in the outset of his professional life ,
especially if he is in absolute dependence upon business for his subsistence ,are
very great . The strictest principles of integrity and honour are his only safety. Let
him begin by swerving form truth or fairness. In small particulars, he will find his
character gone - whispered away, before he knows it. Such a one may not indeed be
irrecoverably lost; but it will be years before he will be able to regain a firm foothold .
There is no profession in which moral character is so soon fixed as in that of the law;
there is none which it is subjected to severer scrutiny by the public . It is well that it is
so. The things we hold dearest on earth , our fortunes, reputations, domestic peace,
the future of those dearest to us , nay our liberty and life itself, we confide to the
integrity of l our legal counsellors and advocates. Their character must be not only
without a stain, but without suspicion . From the very commencement of a lawyer’s
career, let him cultivate above all things, truth, simplicity and candour. They are
cardinal virtues of a lawyer. Let him always seek to have a clear understanding of his
object ; be sure it is honest and right and then march directly to it. The covert,
indirect and insidious way of doing anything, is always the wrong way. It gradually
hardens the moral faculties, renders obtuse the perception of right and wrong in
human actions, weighs everything in the balance of worldly policy, and ends most
generally, in the practical adoption of the vile maxim, ‘ that the end sanctifies the
means.’ Therefore an exacting standard is what is expected of an advocate. The
legal profession is a solemn and serious occupation. It is a noble calling and all
those who belong to it are its honourable members. Although the entry to the
profession can be had by acquiring merely the qualification of technical competence,
the honour as a professional has to be maintained by its members by their
exemplary conduct both in and outside the court. The legal profession is different
from other professions in that what the lawyers do, affects not only an individual but
the administration of justice which is the foundation of the civilised society. Both as a
leading member of the intelligentsia of the society and as a responsible citizen, the
lawyer has to conduct him - self as a model for others both in his professional and in
his private and public life. The society has a right to expect of him such ideal
behaviour. It must not be forgotten that the legal profession has always been held in
high esteem and its members have played an enviable role in public life . The regard
for the legal and judicial systems In this country is in no small measure due to the
tireless role played by the stalwarts in the profession to strengthen them. They took
their profession seriously and practised it with dignity, deference and devotion. If the
profession is to survive, the judicial system has to be vitalised. No service will be too
small in making the system efficient, effective and credible . The casualness and
indifference with which some members practise the profession are certainly not
calculated to achieve that purpose or to enhance the prestige either of the
profession or of the institution they are serving. If people lose confidence in the
profession on account of the deviant ways of some of its members, it is not only the
profession which will suffer but also the administration of justice as a whole. The
present trend unless checked is likely to lead to a stage when the system will be
found wrecked from within before it is wrecked from outside. It is for the members of
the profession to introspect and take the corrective steps in time and also spare the
courts the unpleasant duty.
An advocate stands in a loco parentis towards the litigants. Therefore, he is
expected to follow norms of professional ethics and try to protect the interests of his
client in relation to whom he occupies a position of trust. Counsel’s paramount duty
is to the client. The client is entitled to receive disinterested, sincere and honest
treatment. Nothing should be done by any member of legal fraternity which might
tend to lessen in any degree the confidence of the public in the fidelity, honesty and
integrity of the profession.
The importance of justice is considered in our ancient time , which is evident by the
chapters enumerated in the code of Manu as under ; There were the best possible
rules to promote the interests of both the king and the subjects. The contraction of
debt- dispute relating to lending and borrowing , deposit- a person’s refusal on
demand of thinks or money placed in his custody , Sale of property without
ownership, illegal concerns amongst partners , resumptions of gift , deduction or less
payment of wages or salary , non performance of or acting contrary to agreement ,
disputes of transactions , dispute between the owner and the tender of cattle ,
contest on boundaries , assault or severe , beating, harsh language or slander, theft
larceny robbery , tress- pass or acts of violence , adultery , alteration regarding the
failure of duties as man and wife , disputes of inheritance , gambling or laying thinks
or conscious beings at stake in play were the points of dispute for adjudication on
rival contentions. The king after considering the contention of several persons was
never partial to any body with reference to the ancient law. Even in that time there
were uniformity of procedure and the decision after due hearing and collecting the
evidence .
All the members of the court are considered as wounded, where justice is found
wounded with inequity, and judges do not extract the dart of inequity from justice or
remove its blot and destroy inequity, in other words where the innocent are not
respected and the criminal are not punished.
A virtuous and just person should never enter a court and when he does so, he
should speak the truth; he who holds his tongue on seeing injustice done, or speaks
contrary to truth and justice, is the greatest sinner .
Justice destroyed, destroys its destroyer; and justice preserved, preserves its
preserver. Hence, never destroy justice , lest being destroyed, it should destroy thee.
In this world justice or righteousness alone is man’s friend that goes with him after
death. All other things or companions part on the destruction of the body and he is
detached from all company. But the company of justice is never cut off.
When injustice is done in the government court out of partiality, it is divided into four
parts of which one is shared by the criminal or doer of injustice , the second by the
witness, the third by the judges, and the fourth by the president king of an unjust
court.
Legal justice , with a humane mission, must update itself to legitimise progressive
urges, discern the reality of social changes and design its delivery system, so as to
obviate the dominance of the Proletariat by the Proprietariat and accelerate people’s
access to effective., litigative justice. The contemporary command of social justice,
which is also the socio-economic demand of the common people, is that the
prevalent forensic astigmatism shall be corrected by sloughing off archaic, arcane
authoritarian procedures which often spawn the paradox of a wealth of abuses and a
poverty of access vis-à-vis institutions of legal justice.
The bar and the bench are meant to provide mutual assistance for dispensing the
justice. A prominent Bar is always considered to be of utmost requirement for
imparting the duties assigned to the Judge while deciding the case before him.
Without the adequate assistance of the Advocate , it is not possible to ascertain the
factual controversy and the legal provisions relating to such dispute and as such it is
necessary that for this purposes the Advocate should discharge their duty. The duty
of an Advocate , therefore, is not only for the interest of his client ,but also equally
towards the court . Thus there is the need for regulating the proceedings of the court
by assigning the respective duties on each other appearing and presenting the
matter for adjudication before the court of justice. There are two categories of
Advocates in the present time in accordance with the provisions of Section 16 of the
Advocate Act. An Advocate may , with his consent , be designated as senior
Advocate, if the Supreme Court or the High Court is of opinion that by virtue of his
ability standing at the Bar or special knowledge or experience in Law, he is
deserving of such distinction.
Senior Advocates have also been put in the matter of their practice subject to such
restriction as the Bar Council of India may , in the interest of legal profession may
prescribe in this regard. Recently in the Govt. Gazette published on 11 th December,
1999 , there are certain rules formulated for the purposes of designating an
Advocate as the Senior Advocate.
The "Standing at the Bar" is not simply the years of practice as an advocate , but it
means the position of eminence attained by an advocate at the Bar by virtue of his
integrity , sincerity, legal acumen and high ethical standards maintained by him
inside and out side the court. The power of review of the decision taken by the High
Court has also vested with the Court .It is desirable to designate a senior counsel
only to those advocates who have proven their integrity , sincerity & legal acumen in
the profession and noting has done for unbecoming the member of Noble Profession
and in case something is found contrary to such ethical value on being the conduct
of such senior advocate being noticed by the court , the aforesaid designation of
conferring of an Advocate may be reviewed in exercise of the power vested with the
Hon’ble Court. The aforesaid designation may not be given by the High Court for
Practising as a Senior Counsel of Supreme Court only under such circumstances ,
the administration of justice may be done by the Constitutional Courts and the other
Advocates may also learn the ethics of our profession .
CONVERSION OF A RELIGION - THE BANE OF CASTE SYSTEM
Each soul is potentially divine. This divinity is within one’s nature ; either external by
work or philosophy or internal by worship or meditation or by both virtues. This is the
goal of religion.
There is a serious debate on the issue of conversion of Hindu to Christian , Muslims by
providing the monetary assistance and other incentive through other Nations . The issue
is not relating to human problems. However. It is high lighted for the purpose of political
reasons . The purpose of the issue is not for espousing the cause for human values of a
particular religion , but on the other hand, it is simply meant for creating more
complications as to provide any cohesion between inter se religions .
The purpose of the religion is to serve the society by co-operation between fellow
citizens as to attain the gospel of life by peaceful co-existence . The object of every
religion is to realise solidarity , peace and ultimately the spirituality . There is no
bitterness in the objective of every religion. The approach of one individual adhering to
some religion may differ from other . but when we stand on a higher strata we realise
that every religion is based on a universal pattern as to find out the objective of one’s
life and the power governing over the living creatures .
Hindu were initially recognised for their inhabitation near the Indus valley . There were
the migration of the individuals from other Nation . The natural climate of India was one
of the best climate of the world . Thus the people started gathering near the river bank
of Satlaj, Rabi, Jhelum , Vyas & Chinab in the Punjab province while other started
gathering below the Himalayan valley on the bank of Ganga & Jamuna rivers . There
was one significant remarkable feature in this religion that these people after coming
from the deserted land have started worshipping to the creatures of the nature. The
stones lying near the bank of river were regarded as the auspicious objects
representing to the powerful God namely SHIVA . There was also the respect given to
the animals like Peacock , Snake , Mouse , Monkey and Elephant . The fishes are also
considered to be the auspicious. This was done in order to give respect to every
creatures of the nature. The rivers were regarded to be the Goddess and the Mountains
were regarded as providing the place for inhibition of the identity of the God themselves
. This was done in order to save the nature, as the migrants from the other Nations have
seen the result of fighting with the nature . This is now a universal factor that if one will
not respect the ingredients of the nature , the existence of the very life of an individual
may come to the stake . Thus the ideals behind the Hindu religion were based on the
observations of the human being just to maintain an equilibrium in the universe . Lord
Shiva was considered to be the God of providing justice while Lord Vishnu was
considered to be the governing power and the Lord Brahma as the creator of the
universe. There was a guiding factor always been considered to be superior which was
the outcome of the observation based on the movement of the stars and planets in the
universe. The Sun was always been regarded as the source of energy providing vigour ,
energy and the knowledge in the human being . Thus it was accepted and recognised
as being identical to the spiritualism .
By the passage of time , everything, which was considered to be of utmost importance
like preserving the nature , gradually vanished . The personal interest started
perpetuating inside the ideals of Hindu religion and the knowledge , which was based
on the observation of our great saints , was considered to be the individual’s property .
The other individuals, who were not so learned, were treated with discrimination and
seldom were provided humiliation by our so called guardians in the society . The
preaching of the great saints was considered for being utilised to get the predominating
affairs by some individuals over the other ordinary person and ultimately the Hindu
religion was divided to many segmentation, which were subsequently classified as the
caste system.
There were certain deciple of lord Buddha , who after their migration , were settled in
the different part of our nation. They have started serving the society by giving the
different assignment to the individuals having their potential according to their ability.
Those people, who were having the renouncing character and their physical existence
were reciprocal to their mental calibre were recognised as KAYASTHA .The individual
whose kaya (physical existence) became Astha (merged ) with the spiritual knowledge
and likewise they have renounced the worldly affair were identified by such
nomenclature . The other individual, who were doing different work according to their
ability and learning , the same were given their name according to their nature of work.
The individual performing auspicious function like Worshipping to the Idol inside the
temple and were teaching to the other individuals in the society were recognised on the
basis of their work as Brahman , the power which governs the individuals become a
reciprocal character with them. The people started giving them the due respect as was
commanded by every ingredient of the nature . There was a gradual trend to treat the
son of the Brahman as the respected citizens due to their nature of work .
Subsequently, the lust for power has over ridden the real objective for which they were
commanding such respect, but gradually, by the passage of time, it was demanded from
the others. The Kshatriya having vast expansion of their chest and there were strong
Arms attached to their soldier , they were chosen for their martial character and were
trained for fighting and to protect the religion. On account of their power they started
taking the unscrupulous method for their up lift in the society and by their conquering
power , they have started their predominating character being utilised for retaining them
in power. The people doing some business were called as Vaishya and they have also
taken such business for their inhabitation in the future generation. The other people
were considered for serving to the society and they were identified as Backward Castes
and amongst those were the Scheduled caste and the Tribes . Due to their nature of
work , they were not permitted to perform other functioning like entering inside the
temple and to educate their children. This has ultimately taken a recourse of originating
a caste system on the basis of their heredity superiority and identity thereof ,
irrespective of the fact as to whether they are possessing the quality of their
predecessors or not, but they have started imposing themselves to be the superior class
of citizens. This has created a disharmony in the society and there were gradually a
feeling of taking revolt against such predominating superiority by one class of Hindu
society over other class.
The purpose of the religion amongst the Hindu was finally vanished by such class
discrimination and espousing of the caste system . The principle of co-existence
remained no more in the society , but one class of the citizen has started exploitation to
another class of citizen and finally there appears a feeling of disintegration amongst
fellow citizens. At this juncture there was another menace prevalent in the society as to
invite one invader to defeat his enemy amongst the upper class and as such every
invader who has ruled over our Nation , has found a beneficial factor prevalent amongst
its citizens fighting with each other on account of one reason or other. They gradually
started conversion of the Hindu to their religion and started ruling upon our Nation by
adopting a policy of divide and rule . Thus the conversion of Hindu religion is not based
on any outer factor, but it is on account of our caste system. Let us try to think over
again and again as to whether we want to live on the basis of the principle evolved
regarding our co-existence with each other or we want to be ruled again by some other
invader.
The political arena has now witness a class politics not on the basis of the actual issues
relating to the human problem, but on the caste basis by giving the go by to every ethic
and logical perceptions simply on account of our caste affiliation. There are the instance
when a person sitting on the top of the bureaucracy and occupying a constitutional post
as the top most authority either in the political spare or even in judicial side, he is also
seen to be tempted with the sudden impulse of having the caste affiliation as a
predominating factor in governing the Nation . We have not taken any lesson from our
slavery administered by some alien forces governing the nation and still we are acting
like a spoiled gambler , who has loosen every penny of his belonging and his reputation
in the society, but still he is continuing to play the gamble with his life due to caste
affiliation . There happens to be a tug of war between one force of identity based on
religious compulsions as to demoralise the conscience of one person over the other
individual . No one is having any concern with the plight of the citizen fighting against
the factor relating and responsible for natural calamity , but every one appears to be
interested in adopting any means ; fair or foul and that too with a flavour of caste
affiliation. Who has not become an intoxicant by tasting the juice of power but one
should not consume the intoxicant under the garb of the caste affiliation as he may
loose his own existence and thus be ruled out by some dictator for which the invaders
have already made the prediction, while giving the power to these power intoxicant at
the time of independence of our Nation . God give the good sense amongst our
politician and the guardian of Hindu religion to wake prior to the time when it is not
already too late.
Yogesh Kumar Saxena
Advocate, High Court,
Chamber No. 139, High Court,
H.I.G. 203, Preetam Nagar, Sulem sarai, Allahabad
0532/ 2637720, 2436451, Mobile 9415284843