Teaching Legal Ethics at the Catholic University
The experience of the Pázmány Law School
Abstract
Across the world, a wide range of concepts and practical approaches have emerged for teaching legal ethics. The specific method adopted by any given law faculty is largely shaped by external regulations governing legal education and by the institution’s own academic traditions. Most commonly, professional ethics are taught within one or more courses dedicated to the ethical standards of the various legal professions.
Catholic universities, however, are guided by an additional framework: the apostolic constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae (1990), which directs them not only to provide professional and academic training, but also to help students cultivate and practise moral principles that inform their entire lives, ultimately leading to personal fulfilment. This perspective aligns closely with the Aristotelian view and with pedagogical theories that regard the teaching of professional ethics as a means of fostering students’ moral character.
From this standpoint, the primary aim of teaching legal ethics is to prepare future lawyers to adopt a strong ethical mindset, to recognise moral dilemmas in their daily work, and to respond to them with conscious and habitual moral reasoning. At the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Pázmány Péter Catholic University, the educational system developed in the mid-1990s reflects this approach. Its curriculum places particular emphasis on virtue ethics, seeking to cultivate and strengthen moral behaviour that shapes and enriches the whole of one’s life.
References
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