Morality: 1. General Introduction On Morale and Ethics Moral: Definitions

Professional Ethics and Liability Professional Ethics and Liability
1. General introduction on Morale and Ethics
Moral: Definitions
• Moral – Adjective, Morale - Noun

• a : of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behaviour
• b : expressing or teaching a conception of right behaviour
• c : conforming to a standard of right behaviour
• d : sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment
• e : capable of right and wrong action
• 2: probable though not proved
• 3: perceptual or psychological rather than tangible or practical in nature or effect
-Merriam Webster Dictionary
Morality
• Morality - (Latin moralitas "manner, character, proper behaviour")
• It is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are "good" (or
right) and those that are "bad" (or wrong).
• A moral code is a system of morality (according to a particular philosophy, religion, culture, etc.)
and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code.
• Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness.“
• An example of a moral code is the Golden Rule which states that, "One should treat others as
one would like others to treat oneself.
• The philosophy of morality is ethics.
Morality and ethics

• Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is that branch of philosophy which addresses questions
about morality.
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• The word 'ethics' is "commonly used interchangeably with 'morality‘ • 5. Can we attain moral knowledge?
• Likewise, certain types of ethical theories, especially deontological ethics, sometimes • 6. How do we know when a moral judgment is probably true or
distinguish between 'ethics' and 'morals':
• Rationally justified?
• "Although the morality of people and their ethics amounts to the same thing, there is a usage
• 7. Does anything have intrinsic value (value just for existing), or are
that restricts morality to systems such as that of Kant, based on notions such as duty,
obligation, and principles of conduct, reserving ethics • all values based on our personal desires and interests?
• for the more Aristotelian approach to practical reasoning, based on the notion of a virtue, and • Morality involves what we ought to do, right and wrong, good and bad, values, justice, and
generally avoiding the separation of 'moral' considerations from other practical considerations virtues.
• "Although Morality and Ethics are often used as synonyms, • Morality is taken to be important; moral actions are often taken to merit praise and rewards,
and immoral actions are often taken to merit blame and punishment.
• morals are beliefs based on practices or teachings regarding how people conduct themselves in
personal relationships and in society, • What we ought to do – What we morally ought to do is what's morally preferable. It's morally
preferable to give to certain charities and to refrain from hurting people who make us angry; so
• while ethics refers to a set or system of principles, or a philosophy or theory behind them.
we morally ought to do these things.
• When comparing morality with ethics, the word ethics is often used to refer to a philosophical
• Sometimes what we ought to do isn't seen as “optional.” Instead, we often think we have moral
analysis of a particular morality, especially when the formal definition is applied.
duties (obligations). It might not be a moral duty to give to any charities, but it seems likely that
• There are three major areas of moral philosophy: we often have a duty not to hurt people.
• 1. Meta-ethics – Research concerning the nature of morality. It tries to answer question, • Right and wrong –
such as: What does “good,” “right,” or “justice” mean? What makes something good or right? Is
• Something is morally right if it's morally permissible, and morally wrong if it's morally
moral realism true? Is morality irreducible, cognitive, or overriding? Do intrinsic values exist?
impermissible. Exame.g- it's morally right to help people and give to certain charities,
• 2. Normative theory – How do we decide if something is right or wrong?
• Good and bad – “Good” and “bad” refer to positive and negative value. Something is morally
• 3. Applied ethics – Is x right or wrong? (e.g. Is capital punishment right or wrong?) good if it helps people attain something of positive value, avoid something of negative vale, or
has a positive value that merits being a goal. E.g , food is good because it is necessary to attain
• Ethics is the “philosophy of morality” and “meta-ethics” is the study of moral reality, moral
something of positive value because it helps us survive; and our survival could have positive
knowledge, moral language, and moral psychology.
value that merits being a goal.
• It investigates the question, “What's moral philosophy all about?” And many other related
• Something is morally bad if it makes it difficult to attain something of positive value, could lead
question, such as :
to something of negative value, or has a negative value that merits avoidance. E.g- , starvation
• 1. What does 'good' and 'bad,' 'right' and 'wrong,' or 'justice' refer to? is bad because it could lead to suffering; and suffering could have negative value that warrants
its avoidance.
• 2. Are any moral judgments true?
• Final ends –
• 3. Are there moral facts?
• 4. Are any moral beliefs rational or justified?
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• Final ends are goals that we think are worthy. Pleasure, survival, and knowledge are possible
examples of goods that should be taken to be promoted as final ends. Some final ends are also
meant to help us avoid something of negative value, such as our goals to avoid pain and death.
• “Morality” refers to is to compare and contrast it to non-moral things that are sometimes
• Final ends seem relevant to right and wrong. It seems morally right to try to achieve our final confused with it.
ends because they are worthy. All things equal, it seems morally right to try to attain happiness
and survive. • What we morally or nonmorally ought to do – We don't just talk about right and wrong, good or
bad, or what we ought to do in moral contexts. This is because there is both moral and non-
• Intrinsic values –Intrinsic value plays the same role as final ends—we think it's often morally moral instrumental value.
right to try to achieve goals that help people attain intrinsic goods and we morally ought to do
so. However, intrinsic values can conflict. • Moral instrumental value – We ought to do what is necessary to attain moral goals. For
example, we morally ought to get a job and buy food to stay alive. It's morally right to get a job
• If pain is intrinsically bad, that doesn't mean we should never allow ourselves or others to and buy food, and food has moral instrumental value insofar as it helps us attain our moral goal
experience pain because there might be intrinsic goods that can be attained as a result of our of survival.
pain. For example, homework and learning is often painful, but the knowledge attained can
help us live better lives and could even be intrinsically good for its own sake. • Nonmoral instrumental value – Not all instrumental value helps us achieve moral goals. We
can also have personal goals that have (almost) nothing to do with morality. For example, I
• Justice – might have a goal of standing on my head and taking gymnastics classes could be what I ought
to do to achieve this goal. The right thing to do to be able to stand on your head is to take
• Justice refers to our interest in certain ethical issues such as equality, fairness, and merit.
gymnastics classes, even though it has nothing to do with morality. Additionally, some
• Virtues – instrumental values could even be immoral. For example, I might have a goal to murder
someone and I could say I ought to use a gun if that's the best way to murder someone. That's
• Some people are better at being moral than others. It‘s important that we know the difference
not to say that I morally ought to murder anyone.
between right and wrong, attain the skills necessary to reach demanding moral goals, and find
the motivation to do what is morally preferable. For example, courage is a virtue that involves • Etiquette – Etiquette tells us how to be polite and show respect within a culture. Etiquette tells
knowledge of right and wrong, skills, and motivation. us not to chew our food with our mouths open, to open doors for people, and not to interrupt
people who are talking. Sometimes being rude and impolite can be morally wrong, but the fact
• Praise and blame –
that etiquette and morality sometimes overlap doesn't mean they are identical or that
• We often think that moral behavior merits praise and immoral behavior merits blame. It often etiquette is always relevant to morality.
seems appropriate to tell people who have done good deeds, such as saving lives, that we
• Law – The law tells us what we are or are not allowed to do, and breaking the law often leads
appreciate it and that what they are doing is good; and it often seems appropriate to tell people
to punishment. What's legal is often based on what's moral, but not always. For example, it's
who have done something immoral that we don't appreciate it and that they did something
illegal and immoral to murder people. However, the fact that legality and morality can overlap
morally wrong.
doesn't mean they are identical. It was once illegal to free slaves, but that doesn't mean it was
• Reward and punishment – morally wrong; and it can be legal for a company to pollute or dump toxic waste, but that
doesn't mean it's morally right to do so.
• One way to hold people responsible for their actions is to reward and punish them for their
behavior, and this often seems appropriate. We could give gifts or return favors to people who • It's hard to pinpoint what morality is about, but we often discuss morality with ease anyway.
help us, and break our friendship or ignore those who do something immoral.
• There are many related ideas concerning morality, such as what we ought to do, right and
wrong, and justice; but these ideas often have a nonmoral counterpart.
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• This seems clear when we compare moral and nonmoral instrumental value. • Moral conflicts are situations in which one's moral outlook may be reasonably interpreted as
imparting guidance to do two incompatible actions.
• Moreover, etiquette and law are often confused with morality, but they are not identical to
morality. • There are two major types of moral conflicts:-
• What's polite or legal is often moral, but not always. What's bad etiquette or illegal can be – the moral values that give support to each option differ in kind (civic or familial; to
moral as well. honour parents or serve God
– moral conflict arises from mere contingencies of a given situation (for a mother, which
of her children will survive into the future; which twin to save from drowning)
• We all face situations every day that require us to make choices or decisions. Sometimes these • Both options have comparable moral support, but because of the time, location, and other life
are uncomfortable or awkward and demand difficult decision-making. constraints, both cannot be performed.
• Situations that generally require asking the age-old question, “What is the ethically right thing
to do?” are called values or moral dilemmas.
• Moral reasoning is a process that helps individuals think through possible implications and Human
consequences of actions in response to values or moral dilemmas. • Paragon of animals
• The prevalent interpretation poses moral dilemmas as problems to be solved by moral theory. • Featherless biped
• If a problem cannot be solved, the failure to solve it reflects the shortcomings of moral • A laughing animal
theory. • A rational animal
• What counts as a moral dilemma is difficult to determine with exactitude, and few philosophers Man is not only a rational animal but also an animal of particular type, with a particular and
attempt to provide a fixed definition. complicated structure, by which his thoughts, feelings and actions are largely determined
• But most philosophers accept that moral dilemmas are those uncertainties in which an agent Taoism (about 600 B.C., China)
must choose between two or more mutually exclusive act-choices, each of which is morally
• The individual’s great satisfaction in the life was not enjoyed by him as a member of society,
required.
but as a being isolated from every body and being a law on to himself.
• The options might be good courses of action or the avoidance of bad courses of action.
• Laws and social institutions were mere devices to cramp his human development
• Moral dilemmas are a subset of the general class of dilemmas, which includes prudential
Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679)
(Judicial), epistemic (acquiring knowledge), religious, legal, and moral dilemmas.
• Man is the part of the universe and is a machine composed of moving particles like plants and
• When different domains support the mutually exclusive combinations of choices, the dilemma
animal
is said to be “mixed.”
• Man is also a creature of activity, he is always doing and can have no final end where he can
rest
Competition, Difference and Glory are the cause of quarrel…
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• The question of the relationship between the individual and the society is the starting point of
many discussions.
John Locke (1632- 1704) • Modern social rules encourage individuality and separation.
• Men were basically- • The rights of the individual often take precedence over society
– Good • We are progressively more alone.
– Descent • But are individuals separate from society or a part of society? Is either or both an illusion?
Individuals in society are not 'free agents' as they are constrained by social rules.
– Orderly
• Much social research still separates the individual and society. Society is seen as a unity of its
– Social- minded, and own, implying boundaries. Individuals are seen as free and independent, acting a closed
– Capable of moving her/himself systems
The object of all human action is to substitute pleasure for pain • In practice, individual and society are closely intertwined and interdependent.
• Human beings are Social, Cooperative and Sympathetic. However there are some difference in
Experience, Strength and Ability which may be due to Education, Experience and Environment
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778) • Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems,
or artificial entities in conjunction with their environment, which includes the other systems or
• Human life is Free but Insecure
organisms around as well as the physical environment.
• In humans, behavior is believed to be controlled primarily by the endocrine system and

the nervous system. It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behavior of an
• Man is a social animal lives in social groups in communities and in society organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system.
• Human life and society almost go together • Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new
• Man is biologically and psychologically equipped to live in groups, in society. responses and thus adjust their behavior.
• The relationship between individual and society is ultimately one of the profound of all the • Behaviors can be either innate or learned.
problems of social philosophy. Behavior can be regarded as any action of an organism that changes its relationship to its environment.
• It is more philosophical rather than sociological because it involves the question of values. Behaviour provides outputs from the organism to the environment
• It is in the society that an individual is surrounded and encompassed by culture, a societal force. • Human behaviour is experienced throughout an individual’s entire lifetime. It includes the way
they act based on different factors such as genetics, social norms, core faith, and attitude.
It is in the society again that s/he has to conform to the norms, occupy statuses and become members
of groups • Behaviour is impacted by certain traits each individual has. The traits vary from person to
person and can produce different actions or behaviour from each person.
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• Social norms also impact behaviour. Humans are expected to follow certain rules in society, How intellectual ability contributes to job performance?
which conditions the way people behave.
How employees’ attitudes about their jobs affect the workplace?
• There are certain behaviours that are acceptable or unacceptable in different societies and
How people learn behaviours?
cultures.
What management can do to shape those behaviours?
• Attitude can be defined as "the degree to which the person has a favorable or unfavorable
evaluation of the behavior in question
• Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. It is a current
assessment of what one can do.
• Genetics: Behaviours result from a combination of genes and these genes can be affected by • Managers are less interested in whether people differ in terms of their abilities and more
different factors such as genes and environment are included in the growth of any trait. interested in knowing how people differ in abilities and using that knowledge to increase the
Understanding genetics in relation to behaviour is difficult and there are many things still being likelihood that an employee will perform his or her job well.
studied about this. • Intellectual ability— which encompasses mental actives such as thinking, reasoning, and
• Social Norms: Social norms are essential in understanding human behavior. Norms is described problem solving—is one of the best predictors of performance across all sorts of jobs.
as an unwritten rule on how society must behave, and what majority of people believe about • Physical ability - The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar
others and how they should act in a particular social group or culture.
characteristics.
• Core Faith & Culture: This faith can be through religion, philosophy, culture or personal belief
and often affects the way a person can behave. culture highly affects human behavior. These
differences are able to alter the way different cultures and areas of the world interact and act.
• Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable—concerning objects,
• Attitude: An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or people, or events. They reflect how one feels about something.
event. The interesting thing about an attitude and human beings is that it alters between each
individual. Everyone has a different attitude towards different things. A main factor that • When I say “I like my job,” I am expressing my attitude about work.
determines attitude is likes and dislikes. Positive attitudes are better than negative ones as • To fully understand attitudes, we need to consider their fundamental properties.
negativity can bring on negative emotions that most of the time can be avoided. As humans, it
is up to us to make sure our attitudes positively reflect the behaviors we want to show. • Main components of attitudes-
– Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral
Components of attitudes
Mainly three foundations of individual behavior are important in organizations:
• Typically, researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components: cognition, affect,
• Ability, and behavior. Let’s look at each of these components.
• Attitudes, and • The statement that “discrimination is wrong” is evaluative.
• Learning
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• Such an opinion is the cognitive component of an attitude. It sets the stage for the more critical – Quick
part of an attitude: its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an
attitude and is reflected in the statement “I don’t like Jon because he discriminates against
minorities
• Affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an SLIDE 2
intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.
• So, to continue our example, I might choose to avoid Jon because of my feelings about him.
• Viewing attitudes as made up of three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—is helpful

in understanding their complexity and the potential relationship between attitudes and
behavior.
Learning
• Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience
• Theories of Learning
– Classical Conditioning
– Operant Conditioning
– Social-Learning Theory
• Classical conditioning
• Behavior depends on consequences (money, smiles,…)
• Positive consequences: repeat.
• Negative consequences: do no repeat.
• Operant conditioning
– slow, rewards, punishment.
– Test and fail
• Shaping
– By observing what happens to other people.
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aristotle believe that a person needs education to cultivate phronesis, which is intellectual
excellence.
• If you live by yourself on an island, you have only yourself to consider. When you band together
with other people, however, your actions can affect the group of which you are a part. • Christianity becomes the dominant religion (monotheistic) while Greece was (polytheism).
• Throughout the history, the group has attempted to set limits on the behaviors of individuals in Catholic saints, Augustine and Aquinas:
the perceived best interest of the group and or even individuals.
Both men were influenced by the Ancient Greeks.
• Group-living has always involved a compromise between enjoying individual freedom and
protecting the best interests of the groups. So, how an individual’s freedom can best be Augustine(354-430 C.E.) "Plato of the Middle Ages.”:
protected against the interest of the society is the concern.
• His belief in a heavenly place of unchanging moral Truth is similar to Plato’s belief in the realm
• This concern has long been dealt with the study of Ethics. The study of Ethics is the study of of ideal Forms.
“how to live in group.”
• These truth are imprinted by God on the soul of each human being.
• He believed in the existence of good .

So evil is present when good is missing.
Socrates: the Socratic method of reasoning • Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274):
Christianized version of Aristotle’s ethical teaching.
“the unexamined life is not worth living”
Plato (Socrates’ student): Believed that people have a desirable end goal or purpose and that practicing excellences of
character (virtues) leads to human happiness and good moral reasoning.
Realms of reality: realm of forms (perfect) and realm of appearance (imperfect)
Virtue ethics and natural law theory!!
Tripartite soul:
Faculty of reason->thought and truth->head
Faculty of spirit->eternal life, love, beauty ->chest • The scientific revolution began.
Faculty of appetite->human desire and emotions-->guts • Human moral reasoning based on people being autonomous (self-direction), Rational thinking
creatures rather than being influenced and controlled by Church dogma and rules.
Allegory of the cave
• Reductionists: hope that after most or all knowledge was discovered the universe and human
• Aristotle (Plato’s student): more practical approach to reasoning. He believes in the importance behavior could be predicted and controlled
of empirical inquiry.
• A mechanistic approach: is one that focuses one fixing problems as if one is fixing a machine.
• In nichomachean ethics, aristotle (trans,2002) discussed practical wisdom (phronesis) as being
necessary for deliberation about what is good and advantageous if people want to move
toward their human purpose or desire end goal of eudaimonia (happiness or well-being)
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• Pence (2000) defined postmodernist as “ a modern movement in philosophy and the • The main emphasis in Hindu ethics is cosmic unity.
humanities that reject the optimistic view that science and reason will improve humanity; it
• It originated with writings called the Vedas (c. 2000 to 1000 B.C.E.) that include magical,
rejects the notion of sustained progress through reason and the scientific method” (p.43)
religious, and philosophical teachings.
• The postmodern mind is one that is formed by a pluralistic view or a diversity of intellectual and
• People are believed to be stuck in Maya,(an illusory, everyday, impermanent experience).
cultural influences.
• The quality of one's past actions, karma, influences one's present existence and future
incarnations or rebirths.
• Therefore, people need to improve the goodness of their actions, which will subsequently
Care approach is associated with a feminine way of thinking. improve their karma.
Cure approach is associated with a masculine Enlightenment-era way of thinking
Lawrence Kohlberg (1981) defined six stages of moral development ranging from childhood to
adulthood. Also he didn’t include any women in his study. • Siddhartha Gautama (6th century B.C.E.) was a Hindu prince.
Carol Gilligan ,raised the concern of gender bias. • The Buddha's core teachings, are called the Four Noble Truths:
In her book In a Different Voice (1982),she argued that women’s moral reasoning is different • The First is that unsatisfactoriness or suffering (dukkha) exists as a part of all forms of existence.
,but it is not deficient.
• The Second and Third suggest that the cause of suffering is attachment (clinging or craving).
Kohlberg's is a male-oriented ethics of justice.
• The Fourth contains the path for transforming suffering into enlightenment or liberation.
Gilligan’s is a more feminine ethic of care.
• This path is called the Eightfold path, and it is composed of eight right
• practices: Right View, Right Thinking, right Mindfulness, Right Speech, Right Action, Right
Diligence, Right Concentration, and Right Livelihood.
• Ethics in Asian societies has similarities to and important differences from western ethics.
• similarities: intertwined with spiritual and religious thinking. Both examined human nature and
what is needed for people to move toward well-being.
• Differences: the western ethics is generally for people to achieve self-direction and to • Lao-tzu(c,571 B.C.E)who wrote the Taoist guide to life.
understand themselves personally.
• Taoist philosophy underscores the flux and balance of nature through yin(dark) and yang(light)
• The eastern ethics often is to understand universal interconnections, to be liberated from the elements.
self. Although, eastern ethics is not imposed from outside of a person but is instead imposed
from within oneself. • living well or ethically is living authentically, simply, and unselfishly in harmony and oneness
with nature.
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• K’ung Fu-tzu(551 to 497 B.C.E). • Plato's blueprint for an ideal social organization contained two highly dissimilar proposals for
educating people, depending upon whether or not they have the capacity to acquire
• Confucian ethics is described through the concepts of li and yi.
knowledge.
• Li provides guidance to social orders and how humans should relate to one another.
• Plato argued that moral standards are just as objective as the principles of physics or the
• Yi emphasizes the importance of ones motivations toward achieving rightness rather than theorems of mathematics. Those who think morality is merely a matter of opinion think so
emphasizing consequences. because they lack the knowledge to judge otherwise.
• Confucianism is communitarian ethical systems in which social goals, the good of society, and •
the importance of human relationships are valued.
• Aristotle's ethics are an attempt to answer two questions:

• The history of hortatory ethical speculation can be interpreted in the light of the attempt to
answer two questions: – 1 What is the good life?
1 What is the good life for humankind? – 2 How ought a person, insofar as they are moral, to act?
2 How ought humans, insofar as they are moral beings, to behave? • Aristotle's ethics form a far more empirical theory than Plato's, less hostile to pleasure as a
component of the good life, and positively opposed to the Platonic conception that moral laws
• Socrates' answers to these questions are as follows: have a validity independent of human interests, attitudes, desires, and tastes.
1 People ought to act in such a way as to achieve the good life. • For Aristotle, no specification of the good life will be adequate which does not take into
account a person's unique nature.
2 The good life can be discovered if and only if people have knowledge.
• The good life must be one which is good for humans, and since humans are, above all, rational
• The \Socratic paradox": although people in fact act immorally, none do so deliberately.
beings, the good life will be one which must be conducted under the governance of reason.
• Socrates believed that if a person knows what is good, then they will always act in such a way as
to try to achieve it.
– virtue is knowledge" • Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) a German philosopher
nobody errs willingly" • People’s wills should be based on moral rules
• Therefore it’s important that our actions are based on appropriate moral rules.
• Plato differs from Socrates not only in believing that knowledge of the good is possible, but also • To determine when a moral rule is appropriate Kant proposed two Categorical Imperatives
in specifying how one can go about achieving it. 1. Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time universalize.
• Plato's contention is that discovering the nature of the good is an intellectual task analogous to – If you act on a moral rule that would cause problems if everyone followed it then your
that required in order to uncover a fundamental scientific principle. actions are not more
• The search for the good life is then tied to the theory of knowledge.
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• 2. Act so that you always treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves, and never • Plato said that philosophy begins in wonder. Ethics as branch of philosophy arises from the
only as a means to an end. curiosity about the values involved in the human behavior.
– If you use people for your own benefit that is not moral • The ultimate goal of the quest of human life is usually mentioned by the words like, The Good,
the Highest Good, the Supreme Good or End, Summum Bonum etc.
• Aristotle debated at length the meaning of the word ‘Good’ as well as the concept of ‘Justice
• Sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business people, "What does Ethics mean to you?" and happiness’.
Among their replies were the following:
– "Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong.“

• Derived from the Latin word “Ethos”- the space where people living together
– "Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs.“
• Later it covered the Custom, Usage and Habit
– "Being ethical is doing what the law requires.“
• Ethics is related with moral but it is not exactly morale
– "Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts.“
• The word `moral’ is derived from the Latin word `mores’ which also means customs, usages or
– "I don't know what the word means." habits
These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin • Morality is the standard of behavior by which people are judged but Ethics is a system of belief
down, and the views many people have about ethics are shaky that supports a view of morality, the aim of ethics is to define the nature of the “Highest good
“Most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social of a man” as a member of society
conventions, religious beliefs, and the law", and don't treat ethics as a stand-alone • Ethics is related with human conduct, character and values. Ethics also explores into the
concept.- Tomas Paul and Linda Elder problem of practical life i.e. morality.
• Many people tend to equate ethics with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter • Literally, Ethics is the science of customs or collective habits of men. Any custom has a
of following one's feelings. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical. reference to the community. Customs are the ways of acting, approved by the group.
• Ethics, however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as religion. • Paulsen defines Ethics as a science of customs or morals.
• laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the • According to Mackenzie, Ethics is the study of what is good or right in conduct.
old apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that
deviate from what is ethical. • For Seth, as the science of the Good, Ethics is the science par excellence of the ideal and the
‘ought’.
• In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior
in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi • For Jadunath Sinha, Ethics is the science of the Highest Good.
Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.
• Lillie’s definition is a comprehensive definition. According to William Lillie, “Ethics is a
• The early Greek attempted to understand the meaning of life and is considered by many to normative science of the conduct of human beings living in societies – science which judges this
have begun the development of a Reasoned Philosophy of Ethics. The teachings of Socrates, conduct to be right or wrong, good and bad.”
Plato, and Aristotle culminated in Nichomachus Ethics, named after the name of Aristotle’s son
Therefore, Ethics is-
- Nichomachus.
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 The science of custom and habit • Meta-ethics, about the theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions and how their
truth-values (if any) may be determined;
 The science of character and conduct
• Normative ethics, about the practical means of determining a moral course of action;
 The science of rightness and wrongness
• Applied ethics, about how moral outcomes can be achieved in specific situations; and
 The science of morality and
• Descriptive ethics also known as comparative ethics, about what moral values people actually
 The normative science
abide by.
 Ethics is …
• Within each of these branches are many different schools of thought and still further sub-fields
 Standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in of study.
which they find themselves - as friends, parents, children, citizens, business people, teachers,
professionals, and so on.
\
• The nature of Ethics can be stated as follows:-
• Ethics is a science:
– Ethics aims at systematic explanation of its subject matter. It systematically aims at

explanation of rightness and wrongness in human conduct with reference to ideals. It
systematically classifies our actions into voluntary, involuntary, moral, nonmoral and
• It exposes the inconsistent measures, defects and discriminations of the social customs and evaluates them.
habits
• Ethics is a normative science:
• It helps to remove incorrect ideas and hence to reduce possibilities of wrong actions
– Every individual has three faculties viz. Cognitive, Affective and Conative (knowing,
• It helps to determine the duties of life with reference to moral ideas feeling and willing or acting).there are 3 ideals in human life corresponding to the three
aspects of human nature. Truth, Beauty, and Good are the Supreme Ideals. Logic,
• It helps to rationalize our notion of right or wrong
Aesthetics and Ethics study the ideals of Truth, Beauty and Good respectively.
• It influences directly/indirectly in all sphere of our life
– The ideals in normative science cannot be proved. In the other words values” cannot be
• Examples- proved; they are to be approved.
– Lay off of the employees • The nature of Ethics:
– Pounding on upstream side of a dam • Ethics is the science of ideals involved in human conduct:
– Operating Cigarette and Bear factories – Conduct is the assimilation of choice of Ends and choice of means with some purpose.
Thus Ethics is the science of ideals (Ends) involved in human conduct.
Child workers
• Ethics evaluates human action:
• Ethics studies the moral behaviour in human, and how one should act. It may be divided into
four major areas of study which include:
23 24
– Ethics is a discipline which considers human actions from the viewpoint of ethical norm wrongness of actions. Normative Ethics suggests punishment when a person deviates
or standard. It studies what is good or right in human conduct. Ethics evaluates conduct from the path of ideals. It provides justification for punishing a person who disturbs
with reference to the Summum Bonum of human being. social and moral order.
• Ethics is related with Values: • There are four branches of Ethics - Descriptive Ethics, Normative Ethics, Meta-Ethics and
Applied Ethics.
– Ethical questions are value-oriented questions. Value judgments are complex products
of intuition, sense experience and reason. Values are necessarily associated with choice • Descriptive Ethics
of activities. We have to select the action that is consistent with promotion of life, live
– Descriptive Ethics is the study of people’s beliefs about morality. It involves empirical
organized rational life.
investigation. It gives us a general pattern or a way of life of people in different types of
• The nature of Ethics communities. It studies the history and evolution of Ethics.
• Ethics: A Theoretical science or a Practical science? • Normative Ethics
– Many Western thinkers believe that Ethics is not a practical science as it gives us – Normative Ethics is also called as prescriptive ethics is the study of ethical theories that
knowledge of guiding principles but does not tell us how to apply them. . A practical prescribe how people ought to act. It examines standards for the rightness and
science teaches us to know how to do. It is concerned with means for the realization of wrongness of actions. Normative Ethics suggests punishment when a person deviates
a definite end. E.g. medical science. from the path of ideals. It provides justification for punishing a person who disturbs
social and moral order.
– However, in Indian context, Ethics is a practical science. Different schools of Indian
Philosophy prescribe the supreme end of life (mostly liberation) and prescribe the path • Four branches of Ethics:-
to attain it. The ethics of Bhagawad Gita prescribes the duties of individual.
• Meta- Ethics
• Ethics is not an Art :
– Meta Ethics is the study of what ethical terms and theories actually refer to. It
– According to Mackenzie, the difference between ethics and art :- determines the validity of theories advanced in Normative Ethics. We use certain moral
concepts such as right, wrong, good or bad to evaluate human actions.
– Art is connected to a particular field of skill such as painting, dancing, etc. Ethics is
connected with the whole life of an individual. – Meta Ethics deals with the questions such as ‘What is the meaning o f moral terms or
judgments?’, ‘What is the nature of moral judgments?’, ‘How may moral judgments be
• There are four branches of Ethics - Descriptive Ethics, Normative Ethics, Meta-Ethics and
supported or defended?’
Applied Ethics.
• Applied Ethics
• Descriptive Ethics
– It deals with the problems confronted in our life. It attempts to apply ethical theory to
– Descriptive Ethics is the study of people’s beliefs about morality. It involves empirical
real life situations. It helps to use knowledge of moral principles to present dilemmas.
investigation. It gives us a general pattern or a way of life of people in different types of
communities. It studies the history and evolution of Ethics. Applied Ethics guides the individuals facing conflicting situation. Some critical moral
issues arise due to the insensible and irresponsible attitude of human beings without
• Normative Ethics
any concern to other children of Mother Nature.
– Normative Ethics is also called as prescriptive ethics is the study of ethical theories that
prescribe how people ought to act. It examines standards for the rightness and
25 26
• Most significant decisions in organizations are not only complex but could be considered
dilemmas, because they involve fundamental conflicts between a set of economic and self-
interest considerations and a competing set of ethical, legal, and social considerations.
• These competing considerations favour different alternatives.
• While developing creative alternatives can help reduce the conflict, some tension almost
• The field of applied ethics which examines and sets standards for engineers’ obligation to the
always remains.
Public, their Clients, Employers and Profession.
• Some individuals avoid the more difficult task of trying to balance these conflicting factors by
• Ethical Approaches mostly influenced by whether the engineers are independently providing
arguing that organizations and managers should consider economic (organizational self-
professional service or government service or production enterprises.
interest) considerations exclusively.
• Others simplify by over-emphasizing the social responsibility of organizations and their

managers.
• A basic ethical dilemma is that an engineer has the duty to report to the appropriate authority a
possible risk to others from a client or employer failing to follow the engineer's directions.
• According to first principles, this duty overrides the duty to a client and/or employer. An
engineer may be disciplined, or have their license revoked, even if the failure to report such a
• Our ethical framework is founded on the values we hold and believe to be important. Values
danger does not result in the loss of life or health.
are a set of moral principles we embrace about what is "good," "desirable," "just, "and "of
• A basic ethical dilemma is that an engineer has the duty to report to the appropriate authority a value" in human actions and interactions.
possible risk to others from a client or employer failing to follow the engineer's directions.
• We use these principles (values) to evaluate choices and actions.
• According to first principles, this duty overrides the duty to a client and/or employer. An
• Ethical decisions are almost always complex for several reasons because they have:-
engineer may be disciplined, or have their license revoked, even if the failure to report such a
danger does not result in the loss of life or health. (a) multiple alternatives;
• In many cases, this duty can be discharged by advising the client of the consequences in a (b) consequences that extend beyond the immediate situation;
forthright matter, and assuring the client takes the engineer's advice. However, the engineer
(c) uncertain consequences;
must ensure that the remedial steps are taken and, if they are not, the situation must be
reported to the appropriate authority. (d) mixed outcomes: economic, legal, and social benefits and costs; and
• In very rare cases, where even a governmental authority may not take appropriate action, the (e) personal implications
engineer can only discharge the duty by making the situation public.
• As a result, whistleblowing by professional engineers is not an unusual event, and courts have
often sided with engineers in such cases, overruling duties to employers and confidentiality
considerations that otherwise would have prevented the engineer from speaking out
27 28
• Ethical Egoism: Centres around the standpoint of the individual. The belief is that individuals
should seek their own self-interests, and act to promote the greatest balance of good over bad
for themselves. Ethical egoism might be seen as the usual standard for businesses in a free
market system.
• Utilitarianism: Moral standards are applied to the outcome of an action or decision (a

teleological theory) for, not only oneself, but for all those affected by the action. The principle is
that everyone should act to generate the greatest benefits for the largest number of people
(i.e, the highest net social benefit to society, the "greatest good for the greatest number" ...or
maximize the social benefit function). An act is "right" if, and only if, it produces greater net
benefits for society than any other act possible under the circumstances.
• In using this system one needs to consider both positive benefits and negative costs/outcomes,
also satisfactions such as health, friendships in addition to material ones. Most advocates of
this system say we should consider utilities equally for everyone in society, although some
suggest weighting [Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)]
• Universalism: Moral standards are applied to the intent of an action or decision, because the
outcomes are so indefinite and uncertain at the time the decision to act is made. The principle
is that everyone should act to ensure that similar decisions would be reached by others, given
similar circumstances. This is a deontological (duties or obligations) approach,
• The first duty of Universalism is to treat others as ends and not means. Kant (1724-1804)
proposed a simple test for personal duty and goodwill, to eliminate self-interest and self-
deception, and to ensure regard for the moral worth of others: ask whether you would be
• Eternal Law
willing to have everyone in the world, faced with similar circumstances, be forced to act in
• Ethical Egoism exactly the same way (the Categorical Imperative) ...i.e., to make a decision and act as if your
basis for action were to become a general law binding on everyone)
• Utilitarianism
• Enlightened Self interest: This system is a hybrid of utilitarianism and egoist theory. It may be
• Universalism thought of as "self-interest rightly understood by a reasonable person.
• Enlightened Self interest • By this definition a truly ethical person will recognize that his/her own long-term interests and
• Ethics of Interdependence those of society are much the same. Using this framework, a person might ask: how am I likely
to judge this action from my deathbed?
• Distributive Justice
• Ethics of Interdependence: Confucius taught that conflicts should be resolved by amicable
• Personal Liberty compromise, thereby allowing nature to follow its harmonious course. In this system,
reasonable people will always be capable of compromise and each side is obligated to try to
• Eternal Law: Moral standards are given in an Eternal Law, which is revealed in scripture or
provide what the other side needs to achieve its goals and fulfil itself. Any other kind of
apparent in nature, and then is interpreted by religious leaders or philosophers. The belief is
behaviour is insincere, exploitive, contentious, and unethical.
that everyone should act in accordance with the interpretation
29 30
• Enlightened Self interest: This system is a hybrid of utilitarianism and egoist theory. It may be • Step IV: Implement, evaluate and reassess
thought of as "self-interest rightly understood by a reasonable person.
• By this definition a truly ethical person will recognize that his/her own long-term interests and
those of society are much the same. Using this framework, a person might ask: how am I likely
to judge this action from my deathbed?
Realm Individual Process Ethical Situation
• Ethics of Interdependence: Confucius taught that conflicts should be resolved by amicable
compromise, thereby allowing nature to follow its harmonious course. In this system, Individual Moral Sensitivity Problem or issue
reasonable people will always be capable of compromise and each side is obligated to try to
Institutional/ Moral Judgment Temptation
provide what the other side needs to achieve its goals and fulfil itself. Any other kind of
behaviour is insincere, exploitive, contentious, and unethical. Organizational Moral Motivation Distress
• Distributive Justice: Moral standards are based on the primacy of a single value, justice.
Societal Moral Courage Dilemma
Everyone should act to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits, for this promotes Silence
individual self-respect, which is essentially for social cooperation. [This and Personal Liberty are
two modem ethical systems developed by two different professors at Harvard - this by John
Rawls]
Personal Liberty: Moral standards are based on the primacy of a single value, liberty.
• Individual realm: concerned with the good of the patient/client and focuses on rights, duties,
Everyone should act to ensure greater freedom of choice, for this promotes market
relationships and behaviors between individuals
exchange, which is essential for social productivity. This system is espoused by
libertarians. [developed by Robert Nozick at Harvard] • Institutional/organizational realm: concerned with the good of the organization and focuses on
structures and systems that will facilitate their goals
• Societal realm: concerned with the common good
• Moral sensitivity: recognizing, interpreting and framing ethical situations
• Moral judgment: deciding between right and wrong actions; considering ethical principles
(autonomy, etc), then selecting and applying them
• Moral motivation: prioritizing ethical values over financial gain or self-interest
• Moral courage: implementing the chosen ethical action, even though doing so may cause
• Step I: Recognize and define the ethical issue (realm, individual process and situation) adversity
• Step II: Reflect
• Step III: Decide the right thing to do
31 32
• Problem or issue: a situation in which important moral values are being challenged
• Temptation: a situation in which a choice must be made between a right action and a wrong
action, where the wrong action may benefit the decision-maker in some way
• The legal test: Did anyone do anything illegal?
• Silence: key parties realize ethical values are being challenged, but do nothing
• The “stench test”: Does the situation “smell” wrong?
• Distress
• Publicity (the “front page test”): Would any of the parties involved be embarrassed by the truth
• Dilemma coming out?
• Universality (the “mom test”): What would your mom do? Is this the right thing to do regardless
of who’s involved?
• \Ethical distress: there is a structural barrier to doing the right thing • The ethics test: Do the Code of Ethics, the Guide to Professional Conduct, or Professionalism in
Physical Therapy: Core Values, say anything about this situation?
– Type A: There is a barrier keeping you from doing what you know is right
– Type B: There is a barrier because something is wrong, but you are not sure what that
something is
• Rule-based: Follow only the principle you want every one else to follow (deontological)
• Ends-based: Do whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number (teleological)
• There are two (or more) correct courses of action that cannot both be followed.
• Care-based: Do onto others as you would have them do onto you (the “golden rule”)
• You are doing something right, and also something wrong.
• Most often involve ethical conduct (e.g. honoring autonomy vs. preventing harm).
• May involve conflicting traits of character (e.g. honesty vs. compassion) • Implement: moral courage (role-play, prepare, imagine)
• Evaluate and reassess
– Did things turn out the way you expected?

• What are the relevant facts and contextual information?
– What did you do well? Not so well?
• Who are the major stakeholders?
– What were the most challenging aspects of this situation?
• What are the potential consequences, intended or unintended?
– How did this situation compare with others you have encountered or read about?
• What are the relevant laws, duties, and ethical principles?
– How will this experience make you a better professional?
• What professional guidance do we have?
• What do the “right vs. wrong” tests suggest you should do?
33 34
Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Disclosure Rule: If you are comfortable with an action or decision after asking
yourself whether you would mind if all your associates, friends, and family were aware
of it, then you should act or decide.
The Intuition Ethic: Do what your “gut feeling” tells you to do.
The Categorical Imperative: You should not adopt principles of action unless they
can, without inconsistency, be adopted by everyone else.
The Professional Ethic: Do only what can be explained before a committee of

your professional peers.
The Utilitarian Principle: Do “the greatest good for the greatest number.”
The Virtue Principle: Do what demonstrated the virtues expected.
Principle Source: A.B. Carroll, “Principles of Business Ethics: Their Role in Decision
making and Initial Consensus,”
Management Decision, 28:8 (1990): 20–24, see Figure 3
35 36
37 38
• the establishment of a training school
• the establishment of a university school
• the establishment of a local association
• the establishment of a national association
• the introduction of codes of professional ethics

• \Carpenter working in a Furniture shop
• the establishment of state licensing laws
• Section Officer in a ministry
• a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification
• An Engineer Working in a highway project
• According to the Directive on Recognition of Professional Qualifications (2005/36/EC)-
• A Doctor working in a private clinic
• “those practised on the basis of relevant professional qualifications in a personal, responsible
• A profession is something a little more than a job, it is a career for someone that wants to be and professionally independent capacity by those providing intellectual and conceptual services
part of society, who becomes competent in their chosen sector through training; maintains in the interest of the client and the public”.
their skills through continuing professional development (CPD); and commits to behaving
ethically, to protect the interests of the public. • Formation of a profession
• We all rely on professionals at many points of our lives – from dentists to teachers, from • A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through "the development of
pension managers to careers advisers, from town planners to paramedics. We rely on formal qualifications based upon education, apprenticeship, and examinations, the emergence
professionals to be experts and to know what to do when we need them to. of regulatory bodies with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of
monopoly rights."
• A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of
which is to supply objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite • Regulation
compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain.
• Originally, any regulation of the professions was self-regulation through bodies such as
• A profession has been further defined as: "a special type of occupation...(possessing) corporate the College of Physicians or the Inns of Court. With the growing role of government, statutory
solidarity...prolonged specialized training in a body of abstract knowledge, and a collectivity or bodies have increasingly taken on this rôle, their members being appointed either by the
service orientation...a vocational sub-culture which comprises implicit codes of behaviour, profession or (increasingly) by government
generates an esprit de corps among members of the same profession, and ensures them
• Autonomy
certain occupational advantages...(also) bureaucratic structures and monopolistic privileges to
perform certain types of work...professional literature, legislation, etc." • Professions tend to be autonomous, which means they have a high degree of control of their
own affairs: "professionals are autonomous insofar as they can make independent judgments
• Medieval and early modern tradition recognised only three professions: divinity, medicine,
about their work". This usually means "the freedom to exercise their professional judgement.
and law—the so-called "learned professions".
• "Professional autonomy is often described as a claim of professionals that has to serve primarily
• Major milestones which may mark an occupation being identified as a profession include.
their own interests...this professional autonomy can only be maintained if members of the
• an occupation becomes a full-time occupation profession subject their activities and decisions to a critical evaluation by other members of the
profession.
39 40
• The concept of autonomy can therefore be seen to embrace not only judgement, but also self- • A little judgment and discretion required
interest and a continuous process of critical evaluation of ethics and procedures from within
• Training in Carpentry not formal but rather is practical
the profession itself.
• So Carpentry doesn’t meet the requirements to be a profession
• Status and prestige
• Professions enjoy a high social status, regard and esteem conferred upon them by society.
• All professions involve technical, specialised and highly skilled work often referred
to "professional expertise. • Larson says profession and professionals as-
• Power • "high standards of professional and intellectual excellence,”
• All professions have power and is used to control its own members, and also its area of • "professions are occupations with special power and prestige,“
expertise and interests.
• "an exclusive elite group,“
• A profession tends to dominate, police and protect its area of expertise and the conduct of its
• Members of a profession have also been defined as "workers whose qualities of detachment,
members, and exercises a dominating influence over its entire field which means that
autonomy, and group allegiance are more extensive than those found among other
professions can act monopolist, rebuffing competition from ancillary trades and occupations, as
groups...their attributes include a high degree of systematic knowledge; strong community
well as subordinating and controlling lesser but related trades.
orientation and loyalty; self-regulation; and a system of rewards defined and administered by
• A profession is characterized by the power and high prestige it has in society as a whole the community of workers."
• There is considerable agreement about defining the characteristic features of a profession, they
have a-
•
• Professional Association,
• Requirements to be a Profession Professional
• Cognitive Base,
• Requires extensive skills
• Institutionalized Training,
• Judgment: decision based on academic/formal training, gives serous impact to lives of people
• Licensing,
• Work Autonomy,
• Discretion- in performing one’s duty and keeping confidentiality of patent…
• Colleague Control... (and)
• …
• Code Of Ethics
• Is Carpentry a Profession?
• THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A PROFESSION:
• Carpentry
• Great responsibility
• Require special skills
Professionals deal in matters of vital importance to their clients and are therefore entrusted
• But many work can be mechanized with grave responsibilities and obligations.
41 42
• Accountability • Capitalist morality

Professionals hold themselves ultimately accountable for the quality of their work with the
The responsibilities inherent to the practice of a profession are impossible to rationally
client. The profession may or may not have mechanisms in place to reinforce and ensure
maintain without a moral foundation that flows from a recognition of the singular right of the
adherence to this principle among its members. If not, the individual professional will (e.g.
individual to his own life, along with all of its inherent and potential sovereign value; a concept
guarantees and/or contractual provisions).
that only capitalism recognizes, upholds and protects
• Based on specialized, theoretical knowledge
Professionals render specialized services based on theory, knowledge, and skills that are most
often peculiar to their profession and generally beyond the understanding and/or capability of
those outside of the profession.
• Professions typically require a significant period of hands-on, practical experience in the

protected company of senior members before aspirants are recognized as professionals. After • "Although Morality and Ethics are often used as synonyms,
this provisional period, ongoing education toward professional development is compulsory. A • morals are beliefs based on practices or teachings regarding how people conduct themselves in
profession may or may not require formal credentials and/or other standards for admission. personal relationships and in society,
• Autonomy • while ethics refers to a set or system of principles, or a philosophy or theory behind them.
Professionals have control over and, correspondingly, ultimate responsibility for their own
work. Professionals tend to define the terms, processes, and conditions of work to be • When comparing morality with ethics, the word ethics is often used to refer to a philosophical
performed for clients (either directly or as preconditions for their ongoing agency analysis of a particular morality, especially when the formal definition is applied.
employment).
• Clients rather than customers

Members of a profession exercise discrimination in choosing clients rather than simply
accepting any interested party as a customer (as merchants do). • Codes of Ethic express
Direct working relationships – The right

Professionals habitually work directly with their clients rather than through intermediaries or
– Duties
proxies.
– Obligations of the members of the profession
• Ethical constraints
Due to the other characteristics on this list, there is a clear requirement for ethical constraints • The main objectives of the engineering code of ethics are to
in the professions. Professionals are bound to a code of conduct or ethics specific to the distinct
profession (and sometimes the individual). – (i) protect the public,
– (ii) protect and further develop the profession.

• Merit-based
In a profession, members achieve employment and success based on merit and corresponding
voluntary relationships rather than on corrupted ideals such as social principle, mandated
support, or extortion (e.g. union members are not professionals). Therefore, a professional is
one who must attract clients and profits due to the merits of his work • Help create environment within a profession where ethical behavior is the norm
43 44
• Serves as a guide or reminder of how to act in a specific situation – Widely circulated and officially approved by professional societies
• Code provides a backup for an individual who is being pressured by a superior to behave – Codes can be used in the classroom to discuss and reflect moral issue
unethically
• Discipline:
• A support for a collective sense of correct behavior
– Formal basis for investigating unethical conduct
• Code can indicate to others that the profession is seriously concerned about responsibility,
– Some professional societies do suspend or expel members whose professional conduct
professional conduct.
has been proven unethical
•
• Contributing to the professional’s image
– Codes can present a positive image to the public
– Can help engineers more effectively serve the public where the image is warranted
• Serving and Protecting the public:
– Professionals stand in a fiduciary relationship with the public.
– Code of ethics functions as a commitment by the profession as a whole that engineers

• Is not a recipe for ethical behavior; it is only a framework for arriving at good ethical choice
will serve the public health, safety and welfare.
• Is never a substitute for sound judgment
• Guidance:
• Is not a legal document?????
– Codes provide general guidance on the main obligation of engineers.
• Code of ethics doesn’t create new moral or ethical principles. These principles are well
• Inspiration:
established in the society, and foundations of such go many centuries back.
– Code expresses collective commitment to ethics
– Positive motivation for ethical conduct

• Engineers have obligations to the public, their clients, employers and the profession.
• Shared standards:
• Many engineering societies have established codes of practice and codes of ethics to guide
– Profession establishes explicit standards
members and inform the public at large.
– Public is assured of a minimum standard of excellence on which it can depend
• Each engineering discipline and professional society maintains a code of ethics, which the
engineers.
members pledge to uphold. Depending on their specializations, engineers may also be
• Support for responsible professionals: governed by specific statute, whistle blowing, product liability laws, and often the principles
of business ethics.
– Positive support to professionals to act ethically
– Can serve as legal support for engineers for professional obligations
• Education and mutual understanding:
45 46
• Individual codes of ethics are most commonly seen as part of the tenets of a religion but can • Lawyers
also be considered to be those unwritten rules of behavior instilled in an individual by their
• An excellent example of a code of ethics relating to a profession is the American Bar Association
upbringing and environment.
Model Rules of Professional Conduct:
• Society at large assumes that certain ethical behaviors are defined regardless of religion,
• The first rule in the American Bar Association's Code of ethics addresses attorney competence.
geographic location or nationality.
Called Rule 1.1, this rule reads:
• Examples of societal ethical behavior can include such things as:
• A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation
• Respect for another’s property requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the
representation.
• Refraining from violence against another
• This code of ethics provides guidance for lawyers on matters ranging from client confidentiality
• Treating others with civility
to partnerships to treatment of witnesses inside and outside the courtroom.
• Also for paralegals
• Physicians
• The American Medical Association also imposes a Code of Ethics on physicians. This code of
ethics addresses everything from interpersonal relationships with other staff members such as
What is Profession? nurses, to information on patient care.
• Work that requires sophisticated skills, the use of judgment and the exercise of discretion. Not • Different opinions within the AMA's code address different issues. For instance, opinion 8.021:
routine and is not capable of being mechanized.
• Ethical obligations of medical directors, specifies that :(1) Placing the interests of patients above
• Membership in the profession requires extensive formal education, not simply practical training other considerations, such as personal interests (eg, financial incentives) or employer business
interests (eg, profit). This entails applying the plan parameters to each patient equally and
• To set standards for admission to the profession, to set standards of conduct for members and engaging in neither discrimination nor favoritism, is part of adherence to professional medical
to enforce standards.
• Significant public good results from the practice of the profession (Martin and Schinzinger
2000)
• An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific

knowledge, mathematics, and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems.
• Sociologist’s opinion
• Engineers design materials, structures, and systems while considering the limitations imposed
– Social-contract by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. The word engineer is derived from
the Latin roots ingeniare ("to contrive, devise") and ingenium ("cleverness").
– Business Model
• Engineers are grounded in applied sciences, and their work in research and development is
distinct from the basic research focus of scientists.The work of engineers forms the link
47 48
between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to human needs and quality of • Accreditation (evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met).
life
• The Washington Accord serves as an international accreditation agreement for academic
engineering degrees, recognizing the substantial equivalency in the standards set by many
major national engineering bodies.
• Engineering Ethics is the study of moral issues and decisions confronting individuals and • In the United States, post-secondary degree programs in engineering are accredited by
organizations engaged in engineering. the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.
• The Study of related questions about moral ideals, character, policies and relationship of people Regulation and licensure in engineering
and corporations involved in technological activity.
• In many countries, engineering tasks such as the design of bridges, electric power plants,
• Teaching engineering ethics can achieve at least four desirable outcomes (Davis, M ): industrial equipment, machine design and chemical plants, must be approved by a licensed
professional engineer.
• a) increased ethical sensitivity;
• Most commonly titled Professional Engineer is a license to practice and is indicated with the use
• b) increased knowledge of relevant standards of conduct;
of post-nominal letters; PE or P.Eng. These are common in North America, European Engineer
• c) improved ethical judgment; and (Eur Ing) in Europe.
• d) improved ethical will-power (i.e., a greater ability to act ethically when one wants to). • US- licensure is generally attainable through combination of education, pre-examination
(Fundamentals of Engineering exam), examination (Professional Engineering Exam),]and
• “Ethical responsibility...involves more than leading a decent, honest, truthful life. . . . And it
engineering experience (typically in the area of 5+ years). Each state tests and
involves something much more than making wise choices when such choices suddenly,
licenses Professional Engineers.
unexpectedly present themselves.
• Canada- the profession in each province is governed by its own engineering association.
• Our moral obligations must . . . include a willingness to engage others in the difficult work of
defining the crucial choices that confront technological society” • in the Province of British Columbia an engineering graduate with four or more years of post
graduate experience in an engineering-related field and passing exams in ethics and law will
need to be registered by the Association for Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (APEGBC)
in order to become a Professional Engineer and be granted the professional designation of
Engineering education P.Eng allowing one to practice engineering.
• Involve a concentration of study in an engineering specialty, e.g. both mathematics and the • In Continental Europe, Latin America, Turkey and elsewhere the title is limited by law to people
physical and life sciences. with an engineering degree and the use of the title by others is illegal.
• Many programs also include courses in general engineering and applied accounting. • Italy- the title is limited to people who both hold an engineering degree and have passed a
professional qualification examination (Esame di Stato).
• A design course, sometimes accompanied by a computer or laboratory class or both, is part of
the curriculum of most programs. • Portugal- professional engineer titles and accredited engineering degrees are regulated and
certified by the Ordem dos Engenheiros.
• Often, general courses not directly related to engineering, such as those in the social sciences
or humanities, also are required. • Czech Republic- the title "engineer" (Ing.) is given to people with a (masters) degree in
chemistry, technology or economics for historical and traditional reasons.
49 50
• In Greece, the academic title of "Diploma Engineer" is awarded after completion of the five- • A whistleblower (whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person who tells the public or
year engineering study course and the title of "Certified Engineer" is awarded after completion someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities (misconduct) occurring in a
of the four-year course of engineering studies at a Technological Educational Institute (TEI). government department or private company or organization.
• The practice of engineering in the UK is not a regulated profession but the control of the titles • The alleged misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule,
of Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Incorporated Engineer (IEng) is regulated. regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health/safety violations,
and corruption.
• These titles are protected by law and are subject to strict requirements defined by the
Engineering Council UK. The title CEng is in use in much of the Commonwealth. • Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the
accused organization) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, to the media or
• Many semi skilled trades and engineering technicians in the UK also call themselves engineers.
to groups concerned with the issues).
This is seen by some as a misuse of the title, giving a false image of the profession.
• One of the first laws that protected whistleblowers was the 1863 United States False Claims
• A growing movement in the UK is to legally protect the title 'Engineer' so that only professional
Act (revised in 1986), which tried to combat fraud by suppliers of the United States government
engineers can use it; a Direct Gov petition has been started to further this cause.
during the Civil War. The act encourages whistleblowers by promising them a percentage of the
money recovered or damages won by the government and protects them from wrongful
dismissal.
• Whistleblowers frequently face reprisal, sometimes at the hands of the organization or group
• If workers bring information about a wrongdoing to the attention of their employers or a
which they have accused, sometimes from related organizations, and sometimes under law.
relevant organisation, they are protected in certain circumstances under the Public Interest
Disclosure Act 1998 (USA). • Questions about the legitimacy of whistle blowing, the moral responsibility of whistle blowing,
and the appraisal of the institutions of whistle blowing are part of the field of political ethics.
• This is commonly referred to as 'blowing the whistle'. The law that protects whistle-blowers is
for the public interest – so people are encouraged to speak out if they find malpractice in an
organisation. Blowing the whistle is more formally known as 'making a disclosure in the public
interest.
• Qualifying disclosures are disclosures of information where the worker reasonably believes one
or more of the following matters is either happening, has taken place, or is likely to happen in
the future:
• A criminal offence
• The breach of a legal obligation
• A miscarriage of justice
• A danger to the health and safety of any individual
• Damage to the environment
• Deliberate attempt to conceal any of the above.
51 52
• Recognize special events in the lives of your employees.
• 2. Keep the conversation going.
• 3. Recognize and reward your employees for doing good work.
• 4. Make the workplace comfortable.
• 5. Smile more.
• 6. Build a culture of trust.
• 7. Encourage work breaks.
• 8. Employee people "engines.“
• 9. Build a culture of employee appreciation.
• 10. Have fun.
• Whistle Blowing
Regulation and licensure in engineering in Nepal
• American, UK or other European system???
• 4 yrs study after higher secondary or certificate level.
• No Professional Examination, but registration in Engineering Council
53 54
• Many Engineering Colleges are having poor physical and academic environment – Graduate from an engineering program approved by your state's licensure board
• 24 Gha Provision – Successful in completing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam
• …… • Step 2: Gain professional experience
– All states require that candidates complete four years of qualifying engineering
experience, typically under the supervision of a professional engineer.
• Relationships with clients, consultants, competitors, and contractors • Step 3: Prepare for and take the PE exam
• Ensuring legal compliance by clients, client's contractors, and others – the final step in attaining licensure is successfully completing the Principles and Practice
• Conflict of interest of Engineering (PE) exam.
• Bribery and kickback, which also may include: Gifts, meals, services, and entertainment
• Treatment of confidential or proprietary information
• Consideration of the employer’s assets
• Outside employment/activities (Moonlighting)
• Some engineering societies are addressing environmental protection as a stand-alone question

of ethics.
• The field of business ethics often overlaps and informs ethical decision making for engineers.
• ASME requires ethical practice by each of its members and has adopted the following Code of
• Step 1: Become an Engineer Intern Ethics of Engineers as referenced in the ASME Constitution, Article C2.1.1.
• Step 2: Gain professional experience • The Fundamental Principles
• Step 3: Prepare for and take the PE exam • Engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor and dignity of the engineering profession by:
• Using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare;
• Being honest and impartial, and serving with fidelity the public, their employers and clients; and
• Step 1: Become an Engineer Intern (the first step – toward full PE licensure)
• Striving to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession.
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4. Professional Work:
Individuals should only do professional work in their field or provide recommendations

• Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the performance or suggestions only within the area of their subject of study or obtained knowledge or skills.
of their professional duties. With regard to the works not falling within the subject of one's profession, such works should
be recommended to be done by an expert of that subject matter.
• Engineers shall perform services only in the areas of their competence.
5. Deeds which may cause harm to the engineering profession :
• Engineers shall continue their professional development throughout their careers and shall
provide opportunities for the professional and ethical development of those engineers under With the exception of salary, allowance and benefits to be received for services
their supervision. provided, one shall not obtain improper financial gain of any kind or conduct improper activities
of any kind, which would impair the engineering profession.
• Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or
trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest. 6. Personal responsibility:
• Engineers shall build their professional reputation on the merit of their services and shall not All individuals will be personally responsible for all works performed in connection with
compete unfairly with others. his/her engineering profession.
• Engineers shall associate only with reputable persons or organizations. 7. State name, designation and registration no:
• Engineers shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner. While signing the documents or descriptions such as the design, map, specifications and
estimates etc, relating to the engineering profession, the details should include, the name,
• Engineers shall consider environmental impact in the performance of their professional duties. designation and NEC registration No. and should be stated in a clear and comprehensible
manner.
8. No publicity or advertisement must be made which may cause unnecessary effect:
In connection with the professional activities to be carried out, no publicity or

1. Discipline and Honesty : advertisement shall be made so as to cause unnecessary effect upon the customers.
The Engineering service/profession must be conducted in a disciplined manner with

honesty, not contravening professional dignity and well-being
2,. Politeness and Confidentiality:
Engineering services for customers should be dealt with in a polite manner and
professional information should remain confidential except with written or verbal consent of
the customers concerned. This, however, is not deemed to be a restriction to provide such
information to the concerned authority as per the existing laws.
3. Non-discrimination :
No discrimination should be made against customers on the grounds of religion, race,

sex, caste or any other things while applying professional knowledge and skills.
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– "Law…exist if it is externally guaranteed by the probability of coercion (physical or

psychological) to bring about conformity or avenge violation, and is applied by a staff of
people holding themselves specially ready for that purpose.“
• Thomas Hobbes (English philosopher born 1588)
– "Law is the formal glue that holds fundamentally disorganized societies together."
 Marxist theory
– a tool of oppression (Burden, Impose) used by capitalists to control the proletariat

(Workers, Laborers).
• Law is a term which does not have a universally accepted definition, but one definition is that
law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern
behavior.
• Laws can be made by legislatures through legislation (resulting in statutes), the executive
through decrees and regulations, or judges through binding precedents (normally in common
law jurisdictions).
• The whole system or set of rules made by the government of a town, state, country, etc.
• Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including (in some jurisdictions)
• The system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the arbitration agreements that exclude the normal court process.
actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
• The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution (written or unwritten)
• "The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual.” - The Greek philosopher Aristotle (in and the rights encoded therein.
350 BC)
• Law may be defined as
• John Austin (English jurist born 1790)
• the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating
– "A rule laid down for the guidance of an intelligent being by an intelligent being having the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties.
power over him.“
• a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics,
– "A body of rules fixed and enforced by a sovereign political authority.“ economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of
relations between people.
• Max Weber (German Sociologist born 1954)
59 60
• As part of the law, general principles of law do not represent binding normative circumstances 6. behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in you and in the provision of legal
in the way that explicit legal norms do, but can be seen as rules of law which should be services
followed as far as possible.
7. comply with your legal and regulatory obligations and deal with your regulators and
• Since they do not carry such rigid binding force as norms of the legal order proper, these ombudsman in an open, timely and co-operative manner
principles are called "optimization precepts". For example, the principle deriving from Roman
8. run your business or carry out your role in the business effectively and in accordance with
law which holds that agreements are to be kept (pacta sunt servanda) is a general judicial
proper governance and sound financial and risk management principles
starting-point to which there are many exceptions.
9. run your business or carry out your role in the business in a way that encourages equality of
• Hence it is possible to be released from excessively harsh and inequitable contractual
opportunity and respect for diversity
obligations on the basis of, inter alia, the principle of reasonableness.
10. protect client money and assets
• Principle - a rule or standard especially of good behavior; "a man of principle"; "he will not
violate his principles" • It may be the case that two or more of these principles come into conflict. If this is occurs then
the principle that takes precedence is the one which best serves the public interest in the
• Jus sanguinis - the principle that a person's nationality at birth is the same as that of his natural
particular circumstance, especially the public interest in the proper administration of justice.
parents
• Jus soli - the principle that a person's nationality at birth is determined by the place of birth
• Pre-emption, preemption - the judicial principle asserting the supremacy of federal over state • The law shapes politics, economics, and society in various ways and serves as a social mediator
legislation on the same subject of relations between people.
• Relation back, relation - (law) the principle that an act done at a later time is deemed by law to • Law provides a rich source of scholarly inquiry, into
have occurred at an earlier time; "his attorney argued for the relation back of the amended
complaint to the time the initial complaint was filed" – legal history,
• Law, jurisprudence - the collection of rules imposed by authority; "civilization presupposes – philosophy,
respect for the law"; "the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing
– economic analysis or sociology.
order"
• Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness and justice
• The Solicitor's Regulation Authority's (SRA) Handbook outlines ten mandatory principles which
apply to everyone that the SRA regulates and to all aspects of practice. • In a typical democracy, the central institutions for interpreting and creating law are the three
main branches of government,
1. uphold the rule of law and the proper administration of justice
– impartial judiciary,
2. act with integrity
– democratic legislature, and
3. not allow your independence to be compromised
accountable executive.
4. act in the best interests of each client
5. provide a proper standard of service to your clients
61 62
• Constitutional law conditions, the judges depend on their own sense of right and wrong and decide the
disputes. Such decisions become authority or guide for subsequent cases of a similar
– provides a framework for the creation of law, the protection of human rights.
nature and they are called precedents.
• Contract law
• Customs
– regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets.
• A custom is a rule which in a particular family or in a particular district or in a particular
• Tort law section, classes or tribes, has from long usage obtained the force of law. The dictionary
of English law defines custom as a law not written, which being established by long use
– allows claims for compensation if a person's rights or property are harmed. If the harm and consent of our ancestors has been and daily is put into practice. Custom as a source
is criminalized in a statute, criminal law offers means by which the state can prosecute of law got recognition since the emergence of sovereignty on the horizon of
the perpetrator. jurisprudence.
• Administrative law • Legislation
– is used to review the decisions of government agencies • that source of law which consists in the declaration of legal rules by a competent
authority. Legislature is the direct source of law. Legislature frames new laws, amends
• international law governs affairs between sovereign nation states in activities ranging from
the old laws and cancels existing laws in all countries. In modern times this is the most
trade to environmental regulation or military action.
important source of law making. The term legislature means any form of law making.
• Corporate law
• Statutory interpretation
• Environmental law
• Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation.
• International law etc etc Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute.
Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and straightforward meaning.
• It is a very important function of the court, the process of ascertaining the meaning of
letters and expressions by the court is either interpretation or construction.
Interpretation is the process of which the court seeks to ascertain the Meaning of a
• Precedents particular legislature. It is through interpretation, the judiciary evolves the law and
brings the changes in it and thus keeps the law abreast of law
• Customs
• Preparatory works
• Legislation
• In some legal cultures some of the documents produced in the process leading up to
• Statutory interpretation legislation are subsequently used as guidelines on how to interpret and understand an
act of legislation.
• Preparatory works
• Precedents
• The judgments passed by some of the learned jurists became another significant source
of law. When there is no legislature on particular point which arises in changing (v.) To make an agreement; to covenant; to agree; to bargain;
63 64
(n.) To enter into, with mutual obligations; to make a bargain or covenant for. • The creditor’s right is known as a personal right, which corresponds to the legal object of
performance (i.e. a specific action or inaction, delivery of a specific thing or payment of a
(a.) Contracted; affianced; betrothed.
specific amount of money).
• A contract intends to formalize an agreement between two or more parties, in relation to a
• Sources of obligations: Legal obligations arise out of legal facts, which can be categorised as
particular subject
follows:
• "A contract is a promise or a set of promises for the breach of which the law recognizes duty".
• Events without human intervention:- Forces of nature, animal behaviour, lapse of time, etc.
This amounts to saying that a contract is a legally enforceable promise (Jackson 1973).
• Human conduct:
• A contract is a legally binding agreement. It is a bargain and each side, or party to the
contract, must contribute something to it for it to be valid (Gahlot et al, 1996) • Non-juristic acts:- Acts to which the law gives effect irrespective of the intentions of the
parties (e.g. delicts).
• A Contract is “an agreement concluded between two or more parties for performing or not
performing any act which could be executed according to law.” (Nepal Contract Act,1999, • Juristic acts:- Acts to which the law gives effect according to the intentions of the party
Section-2) or parties.
• The simplest definition of a contract is that it is a promise enforceable at law. The promise may • Unilateral juristic acts:- Acts conducted individually by single parties (e.g. wills).
be to do something or not to do something. By extension, the term "contract" has also come to
• Multilateral juristic acts:- Acts conducted collectively by two or more co-operating
refer to the written document in which terms of the promise are written down.
parties (e.g. contracts).
• In a commercial sense, a contract is a mutual agreement enforceable at law between two or
• The most important sources of obligations are acts of contract, delict and unjust enrichment.
more parties that something shall be done or not done by either or both parties. By implication,
Hence, a contract is not a legal obligation in itself but rather a legal fact that gives rise to a
both parties thereby accept certain responsibilities and in return receive certain benefits.
legal obligation.
• A contract is an agreement, based on consensus between legal subjects with contractual
• The law of contract is the body of legal rules governing the conclusion and consequences of
capacity, which is legal, physically possible and complies with the prescribed formalities and
contracts.
which is reached with the intention of creating a legal obligation with resultant rights and
duties. • It defines the basis and requirements of contractual liability, as well as the rights and duties
of the parties. Moreover, it regulates the breach of contract and provides remedies for such
• Law of Obligation:
breach. Finally, it governs the termination of contractual obligations.
• A legal obligation is a legal tie between legal subjects, recognised by law, which is
• These rules, along with the law of delict and law of enrichment, fall under the law of
created as a result of a certain legal fact and which creates rights and duties that are
obligations, which is a category of the law of patrimony, forming part of private law, which is
recognised by law.
fundamentally concerned with defining, protecting and balancing legitimate individual
• A legal obligation consists of two elements- interests.
• the Right of the Creditor to claim performance and • The law of contract is the body of legal rules governing the conclusion and consequences of
contracts.
• the Duty of the Debtor to perform accordingly.
65 66
• It defines the basis and requirements of contractual liability, as well as the rights and duties
of the parties. Moreover, it regulates the breach of contract and provides remedies for such
breach. Finally, it governs the termination of contractual obligations. • Void, Voidable and Unenforceable contracts (defective contracts)
• These rules, along with the law of delict and law of enrichment, fall under the law of • Bilateral contracts and Unilateral contracts
obligations, which is a category of the law of patrimony, forming part of private law, which is
fundamentally concerned with defining, protecting and balancing legitimate individual (Sales contract, Rewards)
interests.
• Executed Contract and Executory Contract
(both the parties have performed their obligation, both the parties have yet to
perform their promises)
• Agreement (Offer and Acceptance):
• Express Contract and Implied Contract:
when an offer capable of immediate acceptance is met with a "mirror image" acceptance (i.e.,
an unqualified acceptance). (the terms of a contract are reduced in writing or are agreed upon by
spoken words at the time of its formation, proposal or acceptance of any promise is
• Consideration: made otherwise than in words)
the parties to a contract must exchange something of value. • Quasi-Contract and Contingent Contract
• Capacity to contract: (Certain obligations which are not contracts in fact but are so in the
contemplation of law, a promise is conditional and the contract shall be performed
A person is competent to contract if, at the time of making, he is of sound mind, major and
only on the happening of some future uncertain event)
not disqualified from contracting under law
• Legal purpose:
The contract must be legal and may not contradict any statutory or common law rule.
• Construction is a services activity with business side as one of its dimension
• Legality of form:
• The construction industry is almost unique amongst commercial endeavors where the "Project
The contract must abide by any formalities set by law or by the parties themselves. is sold before it is made"
• Intention to create legal relations: • The facility is purchased before it is "manufactured" based on a set of drawings and work
parties intended to make legally enforceable contract descriptors.
• Consent to contract: • Project delivery systems have been developed to provide the construction buyer (i.e., the
client) with a single point of contact or source of purchase.
the parties to the contract have a mutual understanding of what the contract covers
• An engineering contract is a mutual agreement negotiated between two (or more) parties for
Vitiating factors: Misstates, Undue influence, Misrepresentation, Duress the purpose of undertaking, on a commercial basis, certain clearly specified engineering work.
67 68
• Depending upon the magnitude and nature of the work, its special design needs, funding actual costs incurred in carrying out the work under the contract plus a fixed or variable
requirements, complexities of the job and owner's own preference, different types of fee to cover overhead costs and profit.
contracts are entered into.
• cost + percent of cost
• Contracts for any particular engineering project can be classified in the first instance as either
• cost + fixed fee
Main Contract (sometimes referred to as Head Contracts) or Subcontracts.
• cost + fixed fee + Profit sharing
• The essential difference is that a Main Contract is directly between the Principle and Main
Contractor, where as a Subcontract is between a Main contractor and another contractor • cost + sliding fee
referred to as a Subcontractor.
• Sometimes, Part Lump sum and part Unit-Price Contract is also adopted in a single project as
a fourth type
• Engineering contracts, whether Main Contracts or Subcontracts, can further be classified in a Advantages and Disadvantages of all types
number or ways, each of which depends upon a particular characteristic or feature.
2. Classifications by the method of selecting the Contractor
• The three most commonly used characteristics for this purpose are:
• Competitively Tendered Contracts
1. The method by which payment for the work under the contract is evaluated.
the award of contract is generally made to the lowest responsible bidder and an
2. The method by which the contractor is selected. agreement is reached between the Principle and the Contractor
3. The method by which the responsibility for the technical and administrative aspects of the Single Fixed Price or Lump Sum Contracts and Unit Price Contracts
work is allocated.
• Negotiated Contracts with the selected contractors
There are number of options under each of these headings, which can apply to any
contract, and the contract can be defined by selecting the appropriate option from each. Each the principal negotiates directly with a contractor to arrive at a mutually satisfactory
has its advantages and disadvantages for a particular application, and each has developed a agreement to undertake the work.
certain degree of flexibility so that, in reality, many of the individual alternatives overlap one
fixed-price, unit-rate and cost plus fee can be adopted
project's contractual agreement precisely.
• Selective Competition
1. Classifications by the method of payment.
Competition among few selected contractors
• Lump sum or fixed price contracts
3.Classifications by Technical and Administrative Responsibility
contractor is paid the amount nominated in the contract for the work as agreed with the
principal when negotiating the contract Engineering contracts can be classified by the manner in which project implementation
responsibilities are allocated. There are a number of classifications under this method, the
• Schedule of rates or unit-price contracts
principal ones being;
The total price is completed by multiplying the unit price by guided quantity and
• Traditional Approached Contract
summing up the cost of whole the items
• Design-Build or Design-Manage (Turn Key)
• Cost plus contracts
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• Build-Own-Operate Transfer (BOOT) "A project based on the granting of a concession by a principle, usually a government to a
promoter, sometimes known as the concessionaire, who is responsible for the construction,
• Management Contracts
financing, operation and maintenance of a facility over the period of the concession, before
finally transferring the facility, at no cost to the principal, as a fully operational facility, “
(Smith and Merna, 1992)
• The owner employs a designer who first prepares the plans and specifications, then exercise
some degree of inspection, monitoring or control during construction.
• Construction itself is the responsibility of single general contractor under contract to the
owner
• one form is retained to coordinate all activities from concept design through acceptance of
the facility.
• the firm represents the owner in all construction management activities.
• employer prepares the employer’s documents,
• transfer the majority of the risk onto the contractor,
• employer needs to enter into one contract that is with the contractor, who in turn appoints
their own design consultants
71 72
• Almost everyone makes contracts every day
• Sometimes written contracts are required, e.g., when buying a house. However the vast
majority of contracts can be and are made orally, like buying a book, or a coffee at a shop.
• A verbal exchange of promises may be binding and be as legally valid as a written contract.
An unwritten, unspoken contract, also known as "a contract implied by the acts of the
parties", which can be either implied in fact or implied in law, may also be legally binding.
• The most important feature of a contract is that one party makes an offer for an arrangement
that another accepts. This can be called a concurrence of wills or ad idem (meeting of the
minds) of two or more parties.
• Consent in contract means: to agree in opinion or sentiment; to be of the same mind.
• The parties to the contract have a mutual understanding of what the contract covers, e.g.
- in a contract for the sale of a "mustang", the buyer thinks he will obtain a car and the
seller believes he is contracting to sell a horse, there is no meeting of the minds and the
contract will likely be held unenforceable.
• When two parties mutually agree to a transaction, a contract is formed.
• “The mutual agreement” must apply to all significant or material aspect of the agreement.
• The expressed written terms of contract will govern the relationship regardless of any
misunderstanding on the part of any parties.
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• The idea behind consideration is that both parties to a contract must bring something to the
bargain. This means that each side must promise to give or to do something for the other.
• The element of exchange is known as ‘Consideration’ and is an essential element of every

valid contract.
• A party seeking to enforce a contract must show that it conferred some benefit or suffered
some that is recognized by law.
• Consideration is some benefit or advantage to the person making the offer and a
corresponding cost or prejudice to the person accepting the offer.
• Acceptance is simply some indication by the person receiving the offer that the offer is
accepted. The acceptance must be clear and absolute and without conditions attached. The • Money is often recognized as consideration, but in some cases money will not suffice as
objective bystander must be able to determine that the offer has been accepted consideration (for example, when one party agrees to make partial payment of a debt in
exchange for being released from the full amount).
• acceptance relates to the idea of where an offer is made by one party that is considered to be
acceptable to another without qualification in words or through conduct to the offeror in • Some common-law and Civil law systems do not require consideration, and some
conformation with the indicated or prescribe terms of the offer that has been made commentators consider it unnecessary—the requirement of intent by both parties to create
legal relations by both parties performs the same function under contract.
• An acceptance can be made orally or in writing. Mere silence will not create an acceptance.
The acceptor has a right to withdraw his acceptance before it comes to the knowledge of the • The law only requires that there be sufficient consideration; something of value must be
offeror. The effective acceptance must be communicated. given. The consideration can not be something given or promised in the past. To be valid, the
consideration must be a new promise or some fresh benefit exchanged for the offer.
• In general then, as long as the basic elements of an offer and acceptance with consideration
• The acceptance must be made before the offer has expired. Most offers contain a time limit are present, the parties have a valid and binding contract. There is no requirement that the
within which the offer can be accepted. Once the offer has expired, it can not be accepted contract be in writing except in certain special situations
unless the person making the offer has renewed it.
• No conditions can be attached to the acceptance and the terms of the offer can not be
changed. If conditions are attached or terms are changed, the parties are merely negotiating
• Consideration must be "sufficient" (i.e., recognizable by the law), but need not be "adequate"
and may ultimately reach agreement on the terms of the contract
(i.e., need not be a fair and reasonable exchange for the benefit of the promise).
• The offer must be accepted before it is withdrawn. An offer can be withdrawn before
• Consideration must not be from the past.
acceptance unless one of the terms of the offer is that it will remain open for acceptance until
a specified time • Consideration must move from the promisee.
• The promise to do something one is already contractually obliged to do is not, regarded as

good consideration,
• Consideration is known as 'the price of a promise' and is a requirement for contracts under • The promise must not be to do something one is already obliged by the general law to do -
common law. e.g., to give refrain from crime or to give evidence in court
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• A number of commentators have suggested that consideration be abandoned, and estoppel be

used to replace it as a basis for contracts
• Estoppel is an equitable doctrine that provides for the creation of legal obligations if a party has
given another an assurance
• Online contracts, which are easily made, are usually valid on a smaller scale for a period of
one to three months, while on a larger scale can last about five years. • In a unilateral contract, only one party to the contract
makes a promise.
• As with all things legal, especially in regards to the ever-evolving internet, general rules like
length of validity have many exceptions. • A typical example is the reward contract:
• All cases are evaluated on their own merits, and those merits are defined by the facts • A promises to pay a reward to B if B finds A's dog. B is not obliged to find A's dog, but A is
presented in each instance. obliged to pay the reward to B if B finds the dog
• It is up to the owner of the site to do what it can to guarantee enforceability of its contracts. • Condition precedents can also be attached to unilateral contracts
• Though 90% of people sign online contracts before reading the content, E-signature laws have • An offer of a unilateral contract may often be made to many people (or 'to the world') by
made the electronic contract and signature as legally valid as a paper contract. means of an advertisement
• It has been estimated that roughly one hundred and ten electronic contracts are signed every • In that situation, acceptance will only occur on satisfaction of the condition
second. • If the condition is something that only one party can perform, both the offeror and offeree
are protected
• unilateral contracts, the requirement that acceptance be communicated to the offeror is

waived. The offeree accepts by performing the condition
• Offer and acceptance does not always need to be expressed orally or in writing. An implied
contract is one in which some of the terms are not expressed in words. This can take two
forms. A contract which is implied in fact is one in which the circumstances imply that parties
have reached an agreement even though they have not done so expressly. For example, by
going to a doctor for a checkup, a patient agrees that he will pay a fair price for the service. If
one refuses to pay after being examined, the patient has breached a contract implied in fact.
• A contract which is implied in law is also called a quasi-contract, because it is not in fact a
contract; rather, it is a means for the courts to remedy situations in which one party would be
unjustly enriched were he or she not required to compensate the other.
77 78
• But some times discharge can occur in other ways:
1. the occurrence or failure of a condition on which a contract is based,

• Void contract:
2. agreement of the parties,
One of the requirements for a valid contract is absent - no contract is concluded.
3. operation of law, and
• Voidable contract:
4. breach of the contract
A contract is indeed concluded but it can be set aside on account of a defect that
existed at the time of conclusion (e.g. consensus improperly obtained).
• Unenforceable contract: • Execution of a contract by which the contracting parties are automatically discharged of their
obligations under it.
A contract is indeed concluded but it creates only a natural obligation, which is
recognized but not enforced by law (e.g. a wager). Although contracts usually call for full and precise performance, a substantial
performance may be acceptable under certain circumstances, on a pro-rata basis, or on
payment of damages for the unfinished or defective performance.
• Modern Approaches of Contract Management like Professional Construction Management

Approach are still to be flourished in Nepali Contract Environment.
• The act of making a contract or agreement null.
• Mostly Traditional Approach especially in Public Sector-Negotiated contract is limited up to only
• A contract becomes discharged once both parties have fully performed their contractual
Rs. 1.5 lakhs
obligations.
• In private sectors, other modalities like lump sum contracts cost plus contracts are also in use.
• If one party does not fully perform the contract this will amount to breach and the other
• Turnkey and BOOT Contracts are also in Practice these days- limited number of power projects party may have a claim for damages unless the contract has been frustrated.
• It is vital to involve the private sector for the construction of Public Infrastructures- Kathmandu- • If the non performance amounts to a repudiator breach (breach of condition) the other party
Terai Express way will be released from their obligations.
• “Public Infrastructure Build Operate and Transfer Policy, 2000”
• DISCHARGE BY PERFORMANCE
• Performance of a contract (when the parties do what they agreed to do) discharges it. Most contracts are discharged by the parties doing what they promised to do.
• Discharging a contract terminates it. TENDER OF PERFORMANCE

Discharge can be accomplished by tender (an unconditional offer to perform by one who is
• Discharge usually results from performance. Most contracts are discharged by the parties ready, willing, and able to do so). If performance has been tendered and the other party refuses
doing what they promised to do. to perform, the party making the tender can sue for breach
79 80
Complete versus Substantial Performance 1. Express Condition: provided for by the parties agreement. Usually prefaced by the
word if, provided, after, or when.
a. Complete Performance: Express conditions fully occur in all aspects.
2. Implied-in-Fact Condition: Understood to be part of the agreement but not found in
b. Substantial Performance: Performance that does not vary greatly from the performance
the express language of the agreement.
promised in the contract.
A condition is a possible future event, occurrence or nonoccurrence of which triggers
2. Performance to the Satisfaction of Another
performance of an obligation or terminates an obligation. If performance is contingent on a
a. Personal Satisfaction of One of the Parties condition that is not satisfied, neither party has to perform.
When the subject matter of the contract is personal, performance must actually satisfy the
1. CONDITION PRECEDENT
party (a condition precedent).
A condition that must be fulfilled before a party’s performance can be required.
b. Satisfaction of a Reasonable Person
2. CONDITION SUBSEQUENT
Contracts involving mechanical fitness, utility, or marketability need only be performed to the
A condition that operates to terminate an obligation to perform. The condition follows a duty
satisfaction of a reasonable person.
to perform. Such conditions are rare.
c. Satisfaction of a Third Party
3. CONCURRENT CONDITION
When the satisfaction of a third party is required, most courts require the work to be
When each party’s duty to perform is conditioned on the other party’s duty to perform.
satisfactory to a reasonable person
4. EXPRESS AND IMPLIED CONDITIONS
1. Express Condition: provided for by the parties agreement. Usually prefaced by the
word if, provided, after, or when.
2. Implied-in-Fact Condition: Understood to be part of the agreement but not found in

A condition is a possible future event, occurrence or nonoccurrence of which triggers the express language of the agreement.
performance of an obligation or terminates an obligation. If performance is contingent on a
condition that is not satisfied, neither party has to perform.
1. CONDITION PRECEDENT
A condition that must be fulfilled before a party’s performance can be required. A. DISCHARGE BY RESCISSION
2. CONDITION SUBSEQUENT Rescission is the process by which a contract is canceled and the parties are returned to the
A condition that operates to terminate an obligation to perform. The condition follows a duty positions they occupied prior to forming it.
to perform. Such conditions are rare.
B. DISCHARGE BY SUBSTITUTED AGREEMENT
3. CONCURRENT CONDITION 1. Novation
When each party’s duty to perform is conditioned on the other party’s duty to perform. 2. Compromise, or Settlement Agreement
4. EXPRESS AND IMPLIED CONDITIONS C. DISCHARGE BY ACCORD AND SATISFACTION
1. Accord
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2. Satisfaction • Fundamental breach

3. If the Obligor Refuses to Perform
• Anticipatory breach
A. ALTERATION OF THE CONTRACT

An innocent party can treat a contract as discharged if the other party materially alters a term
(such as quantity or price) without consent.
B. STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS
Statutes of limitations limit the period during which a party can sue based on a breach of Immaterial breaches
contract.
• A minor breach, a partial breach or an immaterial breach, occurs when the non-breaching party
C. BANKRUPTCY is un entitled to an order for performance of its obligations, but only to collect the actual
A discharge in bankruptcy will ordinarily bar enforcement of most of a debtors contracts. amount of their damages.
D. DISCHARGE BY IMPOSSIBILITY OR IMPRACTICABILITY OF PERFORMANCE Material breach
1. Objective Impossibility of Performance • A material breach is any failure to perform that permits the other party to the contract to either
compel performance, or collect damages because of the breach
2. Commercial Impracticability
Fundamental breach
3. Frustration of Purpose
4.Temporary Impossibility • A fundamental breach (or repudiatory breach) is a breach so fundamental that it permits the
aggrieved party to terminate performance of the contract, in addition to entitling that party to
sue for damages.
Anticipatory breach
A breach by anticipatory repudiation (or simply anticipatory breach) is an unequivocal

Breach of contract: A failure to honor one’s obligation under a contract. indication that the party will not perform when performance is due, or a situation in which
future non-performance is inevitable.
• Breach of contract is a legal cause of action in which a binding agreement or bargained-for
exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or
interference with the other party's performance.
• If the party does not fulfill his contractual promise, or has given information to the other party A non-breaching party has three basic choices when faced with a breach of contract-
that he will not perform his duty as mentioned in the contract or if by his action and conduct he
1. Excuse the Breach,
seems to be unable to perform the contract, he is said to breach the contract.
2. Rescind the Contract, or
• Material Versus Immaterial Breach
3. Terminate the contract
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Excuse the Breach: risk of having waived the particular contract requirement.
Rescission: the contract is canceled and both sides are excused from further performance and
any money advanced is returned, trap for non breaching party which looses the right to sue for
damages under contract
Termination: common remedy for non-breaching party.
Termination of a Contract
• Termination is the contractually established right to end the contractual relationship under
certain specified circumstances
• In an effort to impose some order and predictability on the breach of contract issue, most
construction contracts contain a termination clause which typically defines-
• Those short comings of the employer which would justify the contractor’s work stoppage,
• The employer be given written notice of the alleged breach and a certain period of time to cure
the breach,
• Employer’s right to terminate the contract (Owner’s termination of a contractor for default and
termination for convenience)
• Award of money intended to compensate a non-breaching party for the loss of the bargain.
• They place the non-breaching party in the same position as if the contract had been fully
performed by restoring the “benefit of the bargain.”
• The general rule for compensation for breach of contract is to put the plaintiff in the same
position he or she would have been in had the contract been performed as agreed. In other • The amount of that will be awarded for breach of contract depends on:
words, in any breach of contract lawsuit, the court will try to fashion a remedy that makes
the plaintiff "whole." – The type of contract involved (Sale of Goods, Construction Contracts, Employment
contracts)
• Compensation for breach of contract may include compensatory damages, consequential
(also called special) damages, liquidated damages, specific performance and nominal – Which party breached the contract.
damages.
• Damages to which parties to a contract agree in advance if the contract is breached.
• To be lawful,
– The actual damages must be difficult or impracticable to determine, and
– The liquidated amount must be reasonable in the circumstances.
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• Many businesses include liquidated damages in their commercial contracts, which help to: • Issues of contract interpretation have enormous commercial implications for the parties
themselves (the meaning of the word “chicken” can involve large sums of money)
– Provide certainty,
• At the same time, for the most part, issues of contract interpretation have no greater social
– Avoid lawsuits, and
implication (courts are simply concerned to get the intended meaning right)
– Provide an incentive to enter into contracts
• Many construction disputes arise out of terms set forth in the contract.
• Unfortunately, many construction contracts were never reviewed by a construction attorney

and are not models of clarity.
• Foreseeable damages that arise from circumstances outside the contract.
• Because many disputes are won or lost depending on the interpretation of the contract terms,
• Consequential damages may include the value of lost profit or revenue, but only if such loss it is imperative that those in the construction industry have in their skill set at least a basic
was caused by the breach of contract and was foreseeable at the time the contract was knowledge of the rules and law governing contract interpretation.
entered into
• One key issue in any contractual dispute is whether the court will allow the parties to introduce
• To be liable for these damages, extrinsic evidence regarding how the subject contract should be interpreted.
– The breaching party must know or have reason to know that the breach will cause • While the law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, generally two competing philosophies
special damages to the other party. exist with respect to when extrinsic evidence may be admitted to explain or interpret the
contract.
• The “four corners” philosophy (also known as the “plain language” approach) typically requires
a court or trier of fact to discover an ambiguity before allowing the introduction of extrinsic or
parol evidence to supplement or explain contractual terms.
• Damages awarded when the non-breaching party sues the breaching party even though no
financial loss has resulted from the breach. • On the other hand, the “intent of the parties” philosophy (also often referred to as the “Corbin”
approach) typically allows the introduction of extrinsic and/or parol evidence regardless of
• Usually awarded in a small amount such as $1.
whether the underlying contract is determined to be ambiguous. The “four corners” method
• Cases involving nominal damages are usually brought on “principle.” has been, and continues to be, the most widely accepted method of contract interpretation in
the United States.
• courts and tribunals utilize various well-known rules of contractual interpretation in testing the
• "Plaintiff says ‘chicken’ means a young chicken, suitable for broiling and frying. Defendant says reasonableness of proffered contractual interpretations.
‘chicken’ means any bird of that genus that meets contract specifications on weight and quality,
• General Rules of Contract Interpretation :-
including what it calls ‘stewing chicken’ and plaintiff pejoratively terms ‘fowl’.”
• The “Whole Agreement” Rule: Simply put, the “whole agreement” or “harmonize” rule
-(Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp., 190 F. Supp. 116 (S.D.N.Y.
expresses the preference that the interpretation of the contract that renders all portions of the
1960) at 116.)
contract valid and enforceable, or in harmony, as opposed to rendering any portion of the
• Issues of contract interpretation are pervasive – a civil litigator does not find it surprising that contract superfluous, inoperative, or void, is preferred. In the majority of cases, the invocation
(parties might litigate the meaning of the word “chicken”) of the “whole agreement” rule benefits owners over contractors because the rule typically
87 88
operates to place upon contractors the obligation to perform work when any part or portion of considered in isolation but must be given an interpretation that takes the entire agreement into
the contract can be construed to require the work. account.”
General Rules of Contract Interpretation :- 3. The factual matrix- In a commercial contract it is certainly right that the court should know the
commercial purpose of the contract and this in turn presupposes knowledge of the genesis of
• Specific Versus General Contract Terms: This well-known and often used rule holds that the transaction, the background, the context, the market in which the parties are operating.
specific terms and exact terms are given greater weight than general contract language.
4. Interpretation is an objective exercise- The contractual intent of the parties is to be determined
• Ordinary and Normal Meanings of Contract Language: Pursuant to this rule, contractual by reference to the words they used in drafting the document, possibly read in light of the
language is to be given its normal and ordinary usage unless circumstances exist to consider surrounding circumstances which were prevalent at the time. Evidence of one party’s
alternative meanings. subjective intention has no independent place in this determination
• Technical Meaning Governs Over Ordinary Meaning: While contractual language is to be given 5. Commercial efficacy- Commercial contracts must be interpreted in accordance with sound
its normal and ordinary meaning, some words have both an ordinary and technical meaning. commercial principles and good business sense
This rule holds that courts interpreting contracts that contain words that have both ordinary
6. Every effort should be made to find a meaning - “[E]very effort should be made by a Court to
and technical meanings should utilize the technical meaning unless evidence suggests that the
find a meaning, looking at substance and not mere form, and that difficulties in interpretation
parties intended otherwise.
do not make a clause bad as not being capable of interpretation, so long as a definite meaning
• Expressio Unius Est Exclusio Alterius: This rule, translated as “inclusion of one is exclusion of can properly be extracted.”
the others,” typically applies when lists of items or services are included in construction
A contract is to be interpreted as of the date it was made -It is a fundamental rule of
contracts. When disputes arise regarding scopes of work or materials to be provided, this rule
contractual interpretation that the intention of the parties is to be determined as of the time
can be invoked to demonstrate that the specific inclusion of lists of work and/or materials that
when the contract is made
are included in the scope of work demonstrates that the parties did not intend for work or
materials that were not listed to be included in the scope of work. 8. The parol (stated or declared) evidence rule -It basically only applies to preclude
evidence of subjective intention and to preclude evidence which contradicts the written
• Course of Dealing: If the disputing parties have acted a certain way in interpreting similar
agreement
language in the past, this “course of dealing” may be used to demonstrate that the parties
intended to treat the disputed language in the same way. 9. The contra proferentem rule- There are some judicial statements that it should only be applied
as a last resort or where the party seeking to rely on it did not have an opportunity to modify
• Construing Ambiguities Against the Drafter: Finally, many jurisdictions hold that contract
the terms of the contract.
ambiguities are construed against the drafter of the document, especially if the application of
other rules of construction fails to resolve the issue. Its only real effect in interpretation of guarantees and insurance policies
The Nine Fundamental Precepts(Law, Directives)

1. Words and their context -The courts have increasingly recognized that context is central to
interpretive accuracy. Context has two aspects 1. The context of the document , 2. The
surrounding circumstances
• Read Nepal Contract Act, 1999
2. A contract is to be construed as a whole with meaning given to all of its provisions- “The normal
rules of construction of a contract require that the various clauses of a contract cannot be •
89 90
• A plumber accidentally installs a sprinkler system in the lawn of the wrong house. The owner
of the house had learned the previous day that his neighbor was getting new sprinklers. That
morning, he sees the plumber installing them in his lawn. Pleased at the mistake, he says
nothing, and then refuses to pay when the plumber delivers the bill. Will the man be held
liable for payment? If yes, Why? If no, Why?
• An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law.
91 92
• An act punishable by law, as being forbidden by statute or injurious to the public welfare … An – Forcible rape: The “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.” It
evil or injurious act; an offence, includes assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force but excludes
statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses.
• A crime is a wrongdoing classified by the state or Congress as a felony or misdemeanor.
– Murder: Killing a human in a wilful and non-negligent manner.
– Felonies (more serious offenses -- like murder or rape)
– Robbery: Taking or attempting to take anything of value from a person by force or
– Misdemeanors (less serious offenses -- like petty theft or jaywalking).
threat of force or violence.
• A crime is an offence against a public law. This word, in its most general sense, includes all
• Property Crimes: damaging, destroying or stealing someone else's property, such as stealing a
offences, but in its more limited sense is confined to felony.
car or vandalizing a building.
• The term offence may be considered as having the same meaning, but is usually understood to
– Arson: Wilfully or maliciously burning or attempting to burn, with or without intent to
be a crime not indictable but punishable, summarily or by the forfeiture of a penalty.
defraud, a house, public building, motor vehicle, aircraft or personal property.
• A crime occurs when someone breaks the law by an overt act, omission or neglect that can
– Burglary: Unlawfully entering a structure to commit a felony or theft. Forcible entry
result in punishment.
need not have occurred.
• A person who has violated a law, or has breached a rule, is said to have committed a criminal
– Larceny-theft: Unlawfully taking property from another (e.g., stealing a bicycle,
offense.
pickpocketing) without force, violence or fraud.
• “Ignorance of the law is no exception“-
• Omission Can Be a Crime
– means that you can be held liable even when you break a law that you didn't know
– But there are also crimes that are neither violent nor involve property damage. Running
existed.
a stop sign is a crime, because it puts the public in danger, even though no one is injured
and no property is damaged. If the law is not obeyed, there could be injury and damage.
• There are two main categories of crime:
• Personal /Violent crime and Property crime

• Criminal law
• Personal / Violent Crimes: A violent crime occurs when someone harms, attempts to harm,
– is the body of rules and statutes defining the offences against the community at large.
threatens to harm or even conspires to harm someone else.
– It regulates how suspects are investigated, charged and tried.
– Aggravated assault: Unlawfully attacking another person to inflict severe or aggravated
bodily injury, usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by other means likely to – The law also provides the punishments for convicted offenders.
produce death or grave bodily harm. Attempted aggravated assault that involves the
– This is also termed as penal law.
use or threat of use of a gun, knife or other weapon is included in this crime category
because serious personal injury likely would result. – Criminal law, also known as penal law, pertains to crimes and punishment. It thus
regulates the definition of and penalties for offences found to have a sufficiently
deleterious social impact but, in itself, makes no moral judgment on an offender nor
93 94
imposes restrictions on society that physically prevents people from committing a crime – These are issues to be raised at trial, for which there are detailed rules
in the first place. of evidence and procedure to be followed.
• Investigating, apprehending, charging, and trying suspected offenders are regulated by the law – Children are not criminally responsible for their actions until they are old enough to
of criminal procedure understand the difference between right and wrong and the nature of their actions.
• The phrase criminal law as it is commonly used includes only substantive criminal law. • Modern criminal law has been affected considerably by the social sciences, especially with
Substantive criminal laws define particular crimes. respect to sentencing, legal research, legislation, and rehabilitation.
• Enforcement of criminal laws in the most of the States has traditionally been a matter handled • On the international field, 111 countries are members of the International Criminal Court,
by the states. which was established to try people for crimes against humanity
• In criminal law, punishment is allowed due to the wrongful intent involved in the crime.
• A punishment such as incarceration seeks to give any victim involved retribution against the
• Tort?
offender, deter the criminal from future criminal acts, and hopefully rehabilitate the offender.
• From French for "wrong,“
• This is distinguished from civil law, which seeks to compensate the injured party rather than
punish the wrongdoer. • Generally refers to private (as opposed to public) and civil (as opposed to criminal) offenses for
which law may provide monetary compensation (damages) to the aggrieved party as
• Criminal acts are considered offences against the whole of a community.
a remedy.
• The state, in addition to certain international organizations, has responsibility for crime
prevention, for bringing the culprits to justice, and for dealing with convicted offenders.
• The police, the criminal courts and prisons are all publicly funded services, though the main • A Tort is a civil wrong or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury
focus of criminal law concerns the role of the courts, how they apply occurs to another.
criminal statutes and common law, and why some forms of behaviour are considered criminal.
• Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which result in harm.
• The fundamentals of a crime are known as the ”actus reus” and the ”mens rea.”
• Therefore tort law is one of the major areas of law (along with contract, real property and
– actus reus "guilty act" (doing that which is prohibited) and criminal law) and results in more civil litigation than any other category.
– mens rea"guilty mind" (i.e. the intent to commit the crime) • Some intentional torts may also be crimes, such as assault, battery, wrongful death, fraud,
conversion (a euphemism for theft) and trespass on property and form the basis for a lawsuit
• The traditional view is that moral culpability requires that one should have recognized or for damages by the injured party.
intended that one was acting wrongly.
• Defamation, including intentionally telling harmful untruths about another-either by print or
• Defences exist to some crimes- broadcast (libel) or orally (slander)-is a tort and used to be a crime as well.
– A person who is accused may in certain circumstances plead they are insane and did not • From French for "wrong,"
understand what they were doing, that they were not in control of their bodies, they
were intoxicated, mistaken about what they were doing, acted in self defence, acted
under duress or out of necessity, or were provoked.
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• A civil wrong or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury 3. right to conduct business with out wrongful interference
occurs to another. Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which
4. right to have property free from interference
result in harm.
• Civil tort law is that branch of law that deals with breaches of civil duties, rather than a
• Torts, are civil wrongs. To have acted tortiously, one must have breached a duty to
contractual duty or a general societal duty.
another person, or infringed some pre-existing legal right.
• Although many violations may be classified as either a tort or a crime, there are some major
• A tort is a legal term describing a violation where one person causes damage, injury, or
differences between a tort and crime.
harm to another person. The violation may result from intentional actions, a breach of
duty as in negligence, or due to a violation of statutes. • Crimes are typically prosecuted by the state, whereas any citizen who has been injured can file
a lawsuit for tort.
• The party that commits the tort is called the tortfeasor. A tortfeasor incurs tort liability,
meaning that they will have to reimburse the victim for the harm that they caused • The injured party sues the defendant or tort feasor.
them. In other words, the tortfeasor who is found to be “liable” or responsible for a
person’s injuries will likely be required to pay damages. • 1. Brought in civil court
• Under most tort laws, the injury suffered by the plaintiff does not have to actually be • 2. Seek damages
physical. A tortfeasor may be required to pay damages for other types of harm,
• 3. Not necessarily a crime
including emotional distress or a violation of personal rights.
• 4. Standard – preponderance of the evidence (i.e. more likely than not)
• In a tort cause of action, the person who violates tort laws is called a “tortfeasor.”
• The party that has suffered the tortious injury may then be entitled to receive damages if they
• In tort law, injury is defined broadly. Injury does not just mean a physical injury succeed in court.
• Injuries in tort law reflect any invasion of any number of individual interests. This includes- • Damages usually take the form of monetary compensation for the injuries that the victim has
interests recognized in other areas of law, such as property rights, actions for nuisance received.
(annoying or hurting) and trespass (unlawful entering) of land can arise from interfering with
rights in real property • Tort laws define what types of legal injuries may be claimed in a civil court.
• Tort laws are laws that offer remedies to individuals harmed by the unreasonable actions of • Tort injuries are not limited to physical harm- they may also include economic, emotional, or
others. Tort claims usually involve state law and are based on the legal premise that individuals even injuries to one’s reputation.
are liable for the consequences of their conduct if it results in injury to others. • A person may also recover damages for violations of rights, such as property, privacy, or
• Tort laws involve civil suits, which are actions brought to protect an individual’s private rights. constitutional rights.
Individual’s rights (in General) • Thus, civil tort claims can form the basis for a very wide variety of legal claims.
1. right to be free from bodily harm
2. right to enjoy a good reputation
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• Civil tort claims may be classified into three basic categories: Intentional torts, negligence, and • Battery: Unlawful, unprivileged touching of another person.
strict liability torts.
• Trespass: Wrongful injury or interference with the property of another.
• Each of these is associated with different standards of proof, remedies, and defenses. The vast
• Nuisance: Anything that interferes with the enjoyment of life or property.
majority of tort claims are based on negligence.
• Interference with contractual relations: Intentionally causing one person not to enter or to
1. Intentional torts
break a contract with another.
• An intentional tort occurs where the tortfeasor acts knowingly and wilfully to injure the victim.
• Deceit: False statement or deceptive practice done with intent to injure another.
• Intentional tort is a civil wrong that occurs when the wrongdoer engages in intentional conduct
• Conversion: Unauthorized taking or borrowing of personal property of another for the use of
that results in damages to another.
the taker.
• Striking another person in a fight is an intentional act that would be the tort of battery.
• False imprisonment: Unlawful restraint of a person, whether in prison or otherwise.
. Negligence
• Defamation: Wrongful act of injuring another’s reputation by making false statements.
 Negligence is a type of tort wherein the tortfeasor breaches a care of duty, resulting in
• Invasion of privacy: Interference with person’s right to be left alone.
harm or injury to the plaintiff.
• Misuse of legal procedure: Bringing of legal action with malice and without probable cause.
 Careless conduct that results in damage to another is negligence. Striking a person
accidentally would not be an intentional tort since there was not intent to strike the • Infliction of emotional distress: Intentionally or recklessly causing emotional or mental
person. This may, however, be a negligent act. suffering to others.
3. Strict liability Tort and Negligence
 Generally, liability because of a tort only arises where the defendant either intended to • A tort is a wrongful act or omission, constituting negligence, that results in identifiable harm to
cause harm to the plaintiff or in situations where the defendant is negligent. However, a person and for which relief, typically in the form of monetary damages, may be obtained by
in some areas, liability can arise even when there is no intention to cause harm or bringing a civil action in a court of law.
negligence.
• Negligence may be the failure to do what a reasonably prudent person would ordinarily have
 For example, in most states, when a contractor uses dynamite which causes debris to done to prevent foreseeable harm to another under the circumstances, i.e.-
be thrown onto the land of another and damages the landowner’s house, the
landowner may recover damages from the contractor even if the contractor was not – doing of a careless, reckless, or intentionally malicious act that a prudent and
negligent and did not intend to cause any harm. This is called strict liability or absolute reasonable person would not have done.
liability.
• Negligence standard seeks to punish and discourage abnormal or inappropriate action that
 Strict Liability occurs where the tortfeasor becomes liable even if they did not act harms others.
intentionally or breach a duty of care
Negligence
The Intentional Torts (: any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to cause harm to
• Negligence is a tort which depends on the existence of a breaking of the duty of care owed by
an individual, and that do so )
one person to another
• Assault: Threatening to strike or harm with a weapon or physical movement, resulting in fear.
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• Negligent behavior towards others gives them rights to be compensated for the harm to their – A rule specifying strict liability makes a person legally responsible for the damage and
body, property, mental well-being, financial status or relationship loss caused by his or her acts and omissions regardless of culpability
• Negligence is used in comparison to acts or omissions which are intentional or willful • Strict liability is prominent in tort law (especially product liability), corporations law, and
criminal law. For analysis of the pros and cons of strict liability as applied to product liability,
the most important strict liability regime, see product liability.
• Strict liability in tort is the concept that in certain situations a defendant is liable for plaintiff's
damages without any requirement that the plaintiff prove that the defendant was negligent
• A friend of Mrs Donoghue ordered an opaque bottle of ginger beer (intended for the
consumption of Mrs Donoghue) in a café in Paisley. Having consumed half of it, Mrs Donoghue
poured the remainder into a tumbler. The decomposing remains of a snail floated out. She
claimed to have suffered from shock, fell ill with gastroenteritis and sued the manufacturer for
carelessly allowing the drink to be contaminated. The House of Lords decided that the The doctrine of strict liability-
manufacturer was liable for Mrs Donoghue's illness. Lord Atkin took a distinctly moral -Applies to ultra-hazardous activities that involve a great risk to people and property.
approach, and said,
-If the subcontractor makes a mistake, the contractor is strictly liable for any damage
• The liability for negligence ... is no doubt based upon a general public sentiment of moral that occurs.
wrongdoing for which the offender must pay ... The rule that you are to love your neighbour
becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer's question, Who is my Also, applies to product liability –
neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or
– cases in which people are injured from defects in products.
omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.
– The firm that manufactures a product is liable.
• Duty of Care – a reasonable responsibility to act or not to act
– regardless of the fault for injuries to users of the product if a defect in one of those
• Breach of Duty – the reasonable person test. (not equal to logical, normal or average)
machines.
• Proximate Cause – without breach the result would not have occurred. (not equal to actual
cause)
• Does not apply if company does not actively engage in the sale of that good.
• Actual harm – (i.e. physical injury, property damage)
• Wrongful death statutes – preserve the rights of third parties affected by the death of a person
• Measurable Damages- a financial loss ( may include pain and suffering)
to bring a lawsuit.
• Punitive damages relate to gross negligence and reckless disregard goes beyond compensation
and allows the plaintiff to attack company profits.
Strict Liability
• In law, strict liability is a standard for liability which may exist in either a criminal or civil
context.
• an unlawful act causing injury to the person, property, or rights of another, committed with
force or violence, actual or implied,
101 102
• especially, a wrongful entry upon the lands of another. employer owes a non-delegable duty of care, such as where the employer is a school authority
and the injured party a pupil.
• Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person,
trespass to chattels and trespass to land. • Employers are also liable under the common law principle represented in the Latin phrase, "qui
facit per alium facit per se", i.e. the one who acts through another, acts in his or her own
• Trespass to the person involved six separate trespasses: threats (intimidation), assault (injury),
interests.
Battery (unpermitted contact ), wounding, mayhem(disorder), and marring (injury or damage)
• Trespass to chattels, also known as trespass to goods or trespass to personal property, is

defined as "an intentional interference with the possession of personal property...proximately
• The owner of an automobile can be held vicariously liable for negligence committed by a
caus[ing] injury
person to whom the car has been loaned, as if the owner was a principal and the driver his or
• Trespass to land, the form of trespass most associated with the term trespass, refers to the her agent, if the driver is using the car primarily for the purpose of performing a task for the
"wrongful interference with one's possessory rights in [real] property owner.
• Courts have been reluctant to extend this liability to the owners of other kinds of chattel. For
• Vicarious liability sometimes called "imputed liability," attachment of responsibility to a example, the owner of a plane will not be vicariously liable for the actions of a pilot to whom
person for harm or damages caused by another person in either a negligence lawsuit or he or she has lent it to perform the owner's purpose.
criminal prosecution.
• Vicarious liability is a form of strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law
doctrine of agency – respondeat superior – the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their
• In the United States, the question of parental responsibility generally and the issue of parental
subordinate, or, in a broader sense, the responsibility of any third party that had the "right,
vicarious liability for the torts of their children is evolving.
ability or duty to control" the activities of a violator.
• What is clear is that parents can be held liable for their own negligent acts, such as failure to
-Parent and child,
supervise a child, or failure to keep a dangerous instrument such as a handgun outside the
-Owner of a vehicle and driver, and reach of their children
-Employer and employee.
• Ordinarily the independent negligence of one person is not imputable to another person
• In English law, a corporation can only act through its employees and agents so it is necessary to
decide in which circumstances the law of agency or vicarious liability will apply to hold the
corporation liable in tort for the frauds of its directors or senior officers.
• Employers are vicariously liable, under the respondent superior doctrine, for negligent acts or • If liability for the particular tort requires a state of mind, then to be liable, the director or senior
omissions by their employees in the course of employment officer must have that state of mind and it must be attributed to the company
• However, the employer of an independent contractor is not held vicariously liable for the • If a director or officer is expressly authorised to make representations of a particular class on
tortious acts of the contractor, except where the contractor injures someone to whom the behalf of the company, and fraudulently makes a representation of that class to a Third Party
103 104
causing loss, the company will be liable even though the particular representation was an guilty party (tort-feasor) to pay for the harmed person’s present and future medical
improper way of doing what he was authorised to do expenses, income reduction, or other tangible or intangible losses.
• While money alone is often inadequate to compensate a person for the severe pain and
suffering resulting from physical or mental injuries or loss of reputation, it is the chief remedy
available to the civil court.
• The principle of vicarious liability can also be bypassed with a legal instrument known as
Employers' indemnity. When an employer is successfully sued, they have the option of suing • Other remedies include-
the tortfeasor for an indemnity to recover the damages back – Injunctions (court orders to make someone do something or to prohibit an action),
– Evictions, garnishment, and attachment (repossession of property pursuant to an

unpaid debt).
• Non-vicarious liability for the acts of third parties is distinguishable from the traditional doctrine
of vicarious liability insofar as it relates to a form of primary liability predicated upon the • Awarding of money is also designed to punish wrongdoing and provide warnings in hopes of
personal fault of the defendant. preventing similar behavior in the future.
• More conveniently termed 'third party liability', it is a novel category of tortious liability that
has evolved from a collection of disparate and isolated judicial decisions setting out, on an
entirely ad hoc basis, individualized exceptions to the entrenched common law rules against • Contributory Negligence
liability for omissions and liability for the acts of others.
– If only one party is responsible for the whole incident, then he or she pays all of the
costs. Multiple tort-feasors can be required to share the costs, based on their portion of
the fault, as determined by the judge or jury.
• Torts can take the form of causing-
• Comparative Negligence
– actual physical or psychological injuries;
– If the plaintiff's responsibility is shared with others, his or her liability is compared to
– violating a business relationship by fraud, libel, or slander; each of the defendant's and damage awards may be reduced proportionately.
– or any other negligent act or omission that causes economic losses to another. • Joint and several liability
• A tort claim is a civil action between private parties in contrast to a criminal action brought by – if multiple persons are found to be at fault, and one or more of them, is unable to pay
the government for which the penalty can include imprisonment. the monetary damages assessed, the remaining dependents may be required to assume
• The basic principle of the tort system is that whoever is at fault for causing an injury must pay responsibility for the remainder (so called "deep pockets“)
the costs for negligent or irresponsible behavior.
• Generally, compensation is based on the portion of blame assigned to each individual

involved and can involve monetary payments for economic, noneconomic, and punitive • Economic damage
damages
– compensation for the actual and estimated costs of present and future medical care,
• In general, a tort claim seeks redress by relying on the civil justice system to assign fault and, loss of income or earning capacity, harm to reputation, and damage or loss of property.
as much as practicable, to make an injured or wronged person “whole” again by forcing the
105 106
• Noneconomic damages • Criminal actions on the other hand are pursued not to obtain remedies to assist a person –
although often criminal courts do have power to grant such remedies – but to remove their
– can include awards for pain and suffering- mental distress, worry or emotional anguish
liberty on the state's behalf.
of the injured individual embarrassment or humiliation, loss of enjoyment of the normal
activities benefits and pleasures of life, loss of well being or bodily function, and the loss • That explains why incarceration is usually available as a penalty for serious crimes, but not
of society consortium companionship and affection suffered by the family of a person usually for torts.
who is severely injured or dies as a result of a tortuous act.
• Punitive damages
• The more severe penalties available in criminal law also means that it requires a higher burden
– may be awarded to the victim but are intended to serve as punishment to the party at
of proof to be discharged than the related tort.
fault and to deter similar future wrongdoing by the guilty party and others in similar
situations. • Many jurisdictions, especially the US, retain punitive elements in tort damages, for example in
anti-trust and consumer-related torts, making tort blur the line with criminal acts.
• Also there are situations where, particularly if the defendant ignores the orders of the court, a
plaintiff can obtain a punitive remedy against the defendant, including imprisonment.
• Tort law is one of the major areas of law (along with contract, real property and criminal law)
and results in more civil litigation than any other category. • Some torts may have a public element – for example, public nuisance – and sometimes actions
in tort will be brought by a public body.
• There is some overlap between criminal law and tort, since tort, a private action, used to be
used more than criminal laws in the past. For example, • Also, while criminal law is primarily punitive, many jurisdictions have developed forms of
monetary compensation or restitution which criminal courts can directly order the defendant
– in English law an assault is both a crime and a tort (a form of trespass to the person).
to pay to the victim.
– Many jurisdictions, especially the US, retain punitive elements in tort damages, for
example in anti-trust and consumer-related torts
• Some intentional torts may also be crimes, such as assault, battery, wrongful death, fraud, • The main difference between a criminal law and civil law has to do with the type of punishment
conversion (a euphemism for theft) and trespass on property and form the basis for a lawsuit involved.
for damages by the injured party.
– Criminal offenses may lead to incarceration in a jail or prison facility.
• Defamation, including intentionally telling harmful untruths about another-either by print or
– However, for civil violations such as torts, the person may not be incarcerated. The
broadcast (libel) or orally (slander)-is a tort and used to be a crime as well.
punishment will have to take the form of monetary damages, or an injunction (a court
• in English law an assault is both a crime and a tort (a form of trespass to the person). order requiring the person to cease their violations).
• A tort allows a person, usually the victim, to obtain a remedy that serves their own purposes – Also, criminal offenses are handled by prosecutors who are employed by the state.
(the payment of damages to a person injured in a car accident, or the obtaining of injunctive
• This means that criminal offenses are often associated with a variety of protections for the
relief to stop a person interfering with their business).
defendant to prevent abuses by the state.
– Some examples of these protections are search and seizure provisions and issues with
evidence. Many of these protections are not available in a civil claim.
107 108
• Duties in tort are commonly owed to persons generally whereas those in contract are
towards a specific person or persons.
• There are some legal actions that mix elements of contracts and torts so thoroughly that we
• Contract law is based on an enforceable agreement. Breaches of the agreement cause the
can't separate them.
damage, e.g. selling a faulty car while saying it was like new in the agreement.
• Torts are related in many ways to contracts.
• Tort law is usually focused on foreseeable negligence causing damages, e.g. Driving while
• With contracts, a duty spelled out in an agreement may be violated, which results in injury. drunk and hitting someone.
• In the case of torts, the duty comes from general laws or customs. • What are the similarities of law of tort and contract ?
• Cases involving a combination of contract and tort are different from pure torts only in the • Civil Proceedings in both.
origin of the duty involved
• What is the difference between a tort and contract?
• Assignment
• A contract is written agreement between two or more parties. It defines how the parties will
• you can assign a debt but you cannot assign a right of action in tort act.
• Capacity of the parties • A tort is an injury done to a person or their property.
• a minor is liable for their torts but is limited in liability in relation to contract
• Conflict of laws
• the conflict of laws rules are different for contract and tort
• Damages
• there are significant differences between the measures of damages recoverable in

contract and tort
• Limitation of actions
• although both contract and tort claims basically have the same limitation period,
there are important differences regarding the time from which the cause of action
accrues
The main differences between contract and tort are:
• Duties in tort are determined by the law - duties in contract are chiefly determined by the
parties.
– i.e. you choose to be bound under a contract but you cannot choose whether or not
to be bound under the law.
109 110
• The profession of civil engineer is- “the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for
the use and convenience of human” (ICE Charter)
• The Engineering Design Process is a series of steps that engineers use to guide them as they
solve problems.
• While having a guide is useful for novices who are learning about engineering, it is important to
note that practicing engineers do not adhere to a rigid step-by-step interpretation of the
process. Rather there are as many variations of the model as there are engineers.
• The Engineering Design Process is cyclical and can begin at any step, or move back and forth
between steps numerous times. In real life, engineers often work on just one or two steps and
then pass along their work to another team.
111 112
• We described engineers primarily as problem solvers. • They are the result of bringing together technologies to meet human needs or to solve
problems.
• What distinguishes design from other types of problem solving is the nature of both the
problem and the solution. • Sometimes a design is the result of someone trying to do a task more quickly or efficiently.
• Design problems are open ended (have more than one correct solution) in nature. • Design activity occurs over a period of time and requires a step-by-step methodology.
• The result or solution to a design problem is a system that possesses specified properties. • 1 Research
• Solving design problems is often an iterative process: As the solution to a design problem • 2 Feasibility
evolves, you find yourself continually refining the design.
• 3 Conceptualization
• While implementing the solution to a design problem, you may discover that the solution
• 4 Establishing the design requirements
you've developed is unsafe, too expensive, or will not work. You then "go back to the drawing
board" and modify the solution until it meets your requirements. • 5 Preliminary design
• 6 Detailed design
• 7 Production planning and tool design (Shop Design)

• Design activity is cyclic or iterative in nature, whereas analysis problem solving is primarily
sequential. • 8 Production
• The solution to a design problem does not suddenly appear in a vacuum.
• A good solution requires a methodology or process.

• The five steps used for solving design problems are:
• There are probably as many processes of design as there are engineers.
• 1. Define the problem
• Since design problems are usually defined more vaguely and have a multitude of
• 2. Gather pertinent information
• correct answers, the process may require backtracking and iteration.
• 3. Generate multiple solutions
• Solving a design problem is a contingent process and the solution is subject to unforeseen
complications and changes as it develops. • 4. Analyze and select a solution
• 5. Test and implement the solution
• The engineering design process is a methodical series of steps that engineers use in creating
functional products and processes.
• Most engineering designs can be classified as inventions-devices or systems that are created by
human effort and did not exist before or are improvements over existing devices or systems.
Inventions, or designs, do not suddenly appear from nowhere.
113 114
• IMPROVE
– Talk about what works, what doesn't, and what could work better.
– Modify your designs to make it better.
– Test it out!
– After you improve your design one, you may want to begin the Engineering Design
Process all over again to refine your technology. Or you may want to focus on one step.
The Engineering Design Process can be used again and again!
• Architect, Engineers, Surveyor, Quantity Surveyor
– Education
– Licensure
• ASK
– Training
– What is the problem?
• Design Firms
– What have others done?
– Recognized by state licensing statutes
– What are the constraints?
– Individual professional – licensed
• IMAGINE
– Employer must be registered
– What are some solutions?
– Sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, etc.
– Brainstorm ideas.
• Issue of poor or defective design
– Choose the best one.
– Obligation to the Public is paramount, but
• PLAN
– should also honor his obligation to Employer if possible
– Draw a diagram.
– Make lists of materials you will need.
• CREATE • Design contracts
– Follow your plan and create it. – Employer – Designer  Specialist Designer
– Test it out! • Construction Contracts
115 116
– Two-Party system • Builders and Architects maintain a duty of care with owners and tenants to ensure that the
building they erect will adhere to government regulations and common practices for the
– Three-party system
construction of buildings.
• Project Delivery System
• An Engineer/ Architect undertaking any work in the way of his profession accepts the ordinary
– Traditional D-B-B liabilities of any man who follows a skilled calling.
– Design-Build (D-B) • He is bound to exercise due care, skill and diligence. He is not required to have an extraordinary
degree of skill and diligence. But he must bring to the task that he undertakes the competence
– CM and skill that is usual among architects practising their profession. And he must use due care.
– PPP • If he fails in these matters and the person who employed him suffers damage, he is liable to
that person. This liability can be said to arise either from a breach of contract or in tort.’
• BOT
• BOO, etc.
• Pre-design
– Negligence in Survey
– Geotechnical investigation, etc.
• Design
– Marginal designs/ Over design
– Design Calculation
• Professional negligence, which may also be referred to as malpractice, is negligence committed
• Service delivery
by someone who is presented with more skills and training than the average person.
– Advising client
• Professional negligence is a breach of the duty of care between professionals and their clients.
The duty of care is a common law arrangement where the client expects a level of – Statutory consent/permit
professionalism and standards commonly held by those in the profession.
– Supply information
• As a consequence of being more highly skilled, professionals are held to a higher standard and
are expected to be able to complete tasks related to their training in a competent way. • Supervision
• A common law legal system is a legal methodology that places a significant weight on – Inadequate Attendance to site
precedent and on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar legal matters differently on
– Failure in Defect identification and correction.
different occasions.
117 118
• Engineers, architects and code enforcement professionals have substantially different – To consult with and advise the employer as to form of contract to be used.
viewpoints about their own roles and responsibilities, and the responsibilities of others, for
– To bring the contract documents in their final stages
ensuring adherence to the standard codes provisions in the design and construction process.
• Actions for professional malpractice may allege a host of claims, theories and causes of action.
At their core, however, these actions are suits for negligent performance of professional
responsibilities, i.e., breach of the standard of care.  The detailed duty of a Consultant may comprises:
 Site Investigation
 Feasibility Studies
• A proper definition of “design responsibility” begins with an analysis of a design professional’s
legal duties – whether imposed by state licensing laws, permitting agency rules or practices,  Cost Estimates
professional ethical standards, or contracts.
 Knowledge of legislation, regulations and bye-laws etc.
• Design firms frequently do not fully understand the legal or professional duties that arise from
 Recommending builders
these sources and, consequently, do not properly address them in their contracts.
 Recommending form of contract
• STATUTORY DUTIES- Stated by various statutory provisions of the state - Planning, Design,
Supervision  Administration of contract
• CONTRACTUAL DUTIES- Provisioned by the contract with client- Express Terms, Implied Terms,  Plans, drawings, specifications
Degree of Skill, Delegation of Duties
 Supervision
• DUTIES INDEPENDENT OF CONTRACT
 Clerk of works
• Duties to the non contracting parties comes from Tort
 Certification
– third parties, contractors and subcontractors
 Temporary Occupation Permit
• To safeguard the interest of the Employer, the designer shall have the following General Duties-
 Detection of Defects
– To advise and consult with the employer as to any limitation of Land, Legislation,
Restrictive Covenants, Rights of Adjoining Owners and Public
– To Examine the Site, Sub-soil and Surroundings. • It is the designer’s duty to translate the owner’s needs and requirements into drawings and
specifications to be used during construction.
– To consult with and advise the employer as to the proposed work.
• During the construction phase, the architect may assist the owner with such services as
– To prepare and submit the employer the primary design drawing (sketch) with probable
monitoring the progress of the work, verifying the specified level of quality is being achieved,
cost.
and certifying payment applications.
– To elaborate and, if necessary modify or amend the sketch, plans and then to prepare
• The architect should provide unbiased interpretations of the contract documents and give
contract documents.
additional instructions as needed to enable the contractor to perform its work.
119 120
• Fitness for Purpose • Supervision of a building project under an “umbrella” arrangement, he should let the client
know that he is delegating other aspects of the design like the mechanical & electrical design
• Negligent Misstatement
work and structural design work to other professionals.
• Statutes, By-Laws and Building Regulations
• Issues
• Examination of the site above and below the ground
• Necessary skills of designer
• Public and Private Rights
• Contract type: personal or with firm
• Plans, Design and Specification
• Benefit for better skills and knowledge
• Revision of Design During Construction
• Contract
• Novel and Risky Design and Employer’s Interference in Design- Some Exemptions with condition
• Design responsibilities
• Quite apart from the aesthetic designs of a building, the design responsibilities of an architect
can extend to specifications, selection of finishes choice of construction techniques.
Delegation of design duties
• He must exercise skill and care in the execution of his designs and in the choice and
specification of materials.
• A Designer usually delegates his duties in one of the following ways:-
• engages specialist(s) directly and pays fee to the specialist from the designer’s own
• Delegation is the assignment of authority to another person to carry out the specific job-related
activities. It allows a subordinate to make decisions; that is, it is a shift of decision-making • advises the employer to engage specialist(s) directly
authority from one organisational level to another lower one.
• obtains a design, usually free of charge, from a sub contractor who usually later
• Delegation should not be confused with participation. In participative decision making, there is becomes a nominated sub contractor
a sharing of authority; with delegation, subordinates make decisions on their own. Effective
delegation pushes authority down vertically through the ranks of an organisation. Delegation of management duties
• A sign of a good leader is how they are able to delegate.
• A good manager needs to get the work done through others. This is the best way to accomplish
• The appointment of an architect, as with most professional persons is personal to himself. He more every day.
cannot delegate his duty to be performed by someone else.
• The basic definition of delegating is “assigning duties to another person or persons while still
• In practice however, due to the complexities of some projects an architect will usually delegate being held accountable.” The most important thing is to know whom to delegate to and
a substantial proportion of the technical aspects of design to other skilled professionals like when.
mechanical & electrical engineers, civil & structural engineers, quantity surveyors, etc. Where
an architect undertakes the design and • You should make sure you know exactly what needs to be accomplished before you give the
task to someone else.
121 122
• Some managers make the mistake to not delegate because they think that if they hold all of the • Steps of successful delegation
cards, they are indispensable.
• Define the task
• On the contrary, you are more indispensable when you show your leadership skills by
• Select the individual or team
delegating.
• Assess ability and training needs
• You are more likely to get praised or even promoted when you show your leadership skills, and
not because you know something that someone else doesn’t know. • Explain the reasons
• Delegation is one of the most important management skills. These logical rules and techniques • State required results
will help you to delegate well (and will help you to help your manager when you are being
delegated a task or new responsibility - delegation is a two-way process!). • Consider resources required
• Good delegation saves you time, develops you people, grooms a successor, and motivates. Poor • Agree deadlines
delegation will cause you frustration, demotivates and confuses the other person, and fails to
• Support and communicate
achieve the task or purpose itself.
• Feedback on results
• So it's a management skill that's worth improving. Here are the simple steps to follow if you
want to get delegation right, with different levels of delegation freedom that you can offer. • Delegation of Authority
• Delegation is a very helpful aid for succession planning, personal development - and seeking • Delegation of authority is one vital organizational process. It is inevitable along with the
and encouraging promotion. It's how we grow in the job - delegation enables us to gain expansion and growth of a business enterprise.
experience to take on higher responsibilities
• Delegation means assigning of certain responsibilities along with the necessary authority by a
• Delegation and SMART, or SMARTER superior to his subordinate managers.
• A simple delegation rule is the SMART acronym, or better still, SMARTER. It's a quick checklist • Delegation does not mean surrender of authority by the higher level manager. It only means
for proper delegation. transfer of certain responsibilities to subordinates and giving them the necessary authority,
which is necessary to discharge the responsibility properly.
• Delegated tasks must be:
• Delegation is quite common in all aspects of life including business.
• Specific
• In delegation, an attempt is being made to have meaningful participation and cooperation from
• Measurable
the subordinates for achieving certain well-defined results.
• Agreed
• Due to delegation, the routine responsibilities of the superior are reduced. As a result, he
• Realistic concentrates on more urgent and important matters.
• Time bound • Secondly, due to delegation, subordinate becomes responsible for certain functions transferred
to him.
• Ethical
• Delegation is a tool, which a superior manager uses for sharing his work with the subordinates
• Recorded and thereby raising his efficiency.
123 124
• Delegation is not a process of abdication. The person who delegates does not divorce himself
from the responsibility and authority with which he is entrusted.
• He remains accountable for the overall performance and also for the performance of his
subordinates.
• Delegation is needed when the volume of work to be done is in excess of an individual's

physical and mental capacity.
• Delegation involves the following three basic elements:
1. Assignment of duties to subordinates,
2. Granting of authority to enable the subordinates to perform the duties assigned, and
• LoL is a contractual clause between a design professional and their client that limits the
3. Creation of obligation on the part of subordinate to perform duties in an orderly manner.
damages recoverable by the client from the design professional.
Objectives of Delegation of Authority
• It is not applicable in a third party injury case – a pedestrian hit by glass that falls out of the
 To reduce the excessive burden on the superiors i.e., executives and managers functioning building or a job site injured worker. The claims of these non-signatories to the design contract
at different levels. are not affected by the Limitation of Liability clause.
 To provide opportunities of growth and self development to junior executives. • Are these Clauses legal and enforceable?- It depends
 To create a team of experienced and matured managers for the Organisation. It acts as a • Generally, well written clauses have been upheld. However, it is a state by state issue and
technique of management and human resource development. analysis of the law applicable to the design contract is essential.
 To improve individual as well as overall efficiency of the Organisation. Basic Requirements of LoL Clause
Process of Delegation of Authority 1. Protect individual professionals and employees in addition to the firm.
 Delegation process involves four distinct stages. The process of delegation moves through 2. Some form of monetary limitation.
these stages. The following figure shows the stages in the process of delegation of 3. Broad description of claims limited.
authority.
Common Options for a Monetary Limitation
 Fixed amount or fee charged, whichever is greater.

 Fixed dollar amount or fee charged, whichever is lesser.
 Fixed Amount.
 Available liability insurance limits.
Typical LoL clause-
 AIA Limitation of Liability based on fee or fixed amount:
125 126
a. Neither the Architect, Architect’s consultants, nor their agents or employees injuries, claims, losses, expenses, or damages whatsoever arising out of or in any way related to
shall be jointly, severally or individually liable to the Owner in excess of the PLI’s services, the project, or this Agreement, from any cause or causes whatsoever, including
compensation to be paid pursuant to this Agreement or Dollar ($), whichever is but not limited to, the negligence, errors, omissions, strict liability, breach of contract,
greater, by reason of any act or omission, including breach of contract or misrepresentation, or breach of warrant of PLI or PLI’s officers, directors, employees, agents or
negligence not amounting to a wilful or intentional wrong. independent professional associates, or any of them, shall not exceed the total compensation
received by PLI under the Agreement, or the total amount of $50,000, whichever is greater… In
 AIA Limitation of Liability based on insurance limits:
the event the CLIENT is unwilling to limit PLI’s liability as set forth above, this limitation may be
a. Neither the Architect, Architect’s Consultants, nor their agents or employees waived for additional fee consideration.
shall be jointly, severally or individually liable to the Owner for an amount in • “Engineering services for the design of public bridges are of great importance to the public.
excess of the proceeds of the available professional liability insurance coverage.
Thus, a clause limiting the liability of a professional engineering firm for the design of a public
 AIA Limitation of Liability to amount of compensation: bridge is unenforceable as a matter of public policy.”
a. In consideration of a reduction represented in the Architect’s compensation, the • “Additionally, PLI’s LOL clause violates public policy because it interferes with the public
parties agree that neither the Architect, Architect’s consultants, nor their agents welfare and safety.”
or employees shall be jointly or individually liable to the Owner in an amount in • “If a party is confident that the damages for an error are limited, the party is less likely to
excess of the Architect’s compensation. ensure that those errors do not occur.”
 What kind of reasons are expressed when these clauses are not enforced? • “Additionally, the court is hesitant to enforce a Limitation of Liability clause for professional
a. Licensing Laws services contract because of a general public policy against waiving professional liability for
negligence.”
b. Anti-indemnity statutes
c. Public Policy
 2010 Virginia Statute • Limitation of liability
 No such corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, limited liability company, or other 1. By contract agreement (Exclusion clauses)
entity, or any affiliate thereof, shall on its behalf or on behalf of any such licensee or
2. By insurance
certificate holder, nor any licensee or certificate holder, be prohibited from (i) purchasing
or maintaining insurance against any such liability; (ii) entering into any indemnification 3. By working in partnership
agreement with respect to any such liability; (iii) receiving indemnification as a result of
any such liability; or (iv) limiting liability through contract. 4. By establishment of limited company
5. By Risk management
-Possibility of minimizing a claim

• New Hampshire Town of Bow v. Provan & Lorber, Inc.
-Effect on the business can be limited, in case of claim
• Limitation of Liability –To the fullest extent permitted by law, the total liability in the aggregate
of PLI and PLI’s officers, directors, employees, agents, and independent professional associates,
and any of them to CLIENT and any one claiming by, through, or under Client, for any and all
127 128
• A) Agreement with the Employer
– The Consulting Engineer has no liability whatsoever for any part of the works not
designed by him/her or under his/her responsibility unless due to decisions taken and
directives given by the Consulting Engineer in the course of carrying out the services
– The Consulting Engineer has no liability whatsoever for any damages resulting from the
act of Client, the Contractors or the Suppliers which is not covered by the ToR or the
Consulting Engineers’ instructions or written advice
• B) FIDIC Clause-4 (Duties and Power of the Engineer and Engineer’s Representative)
– Carry out duties defined in the Contract’
– Obtain specific prior approval as defined in contract,
– Accepts responsibility for the actions of Engineer’s representative
– Delegate in writing powers and authorities to the Engineer’s Representative and give
copies to the Employer and Contractor
• Risk Analysis • Training

– Sources of risk- • Standard of practices: code, standard, etc.
• The project • Systematic design calculation
• The design professional • Systematic Computer input
• The Client • Peer Review
• Method of project delivery • Systematic Checking Procedure
• Type of contract used
• Time and cost
• Risk Assessment
– Probability and impact
129 130
Professional Ethics and Liability
Assignment
Submitted By:
S.B. Tamang
CRN-025
131

Morality: 1. General Introduction On Morale and Ethics Moral: Definitions

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Morality: 1. General Introduction On Morale and Ethics Moral: Definitions

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Professional Ethics and Liability Professional Ethics and Liability

1. General introduction on Morale and Ethics

• Moral – Adjective, Morale - Noun

• Morality may also be specifically synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness.“

• The philosophy of morality is ethics.

Morality and ethics

• 4. Are any moral beliefs rational or justified?

theory. • A rational animal

Competition, Difference and Glory are the cause of quarrel…

– Good • We are progressively more alone.

• In humans, behavior is believed to be controlled primarily by the endocrine system and

– Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral

• Attitudes, and • The statement that “discrimination is wrong” is evaluative.

• Viewing attitudes as made up of three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—is helpful

• Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience

• Behavior depends on consequences (money, smiles,…)

• Positive consequences: repeat.

• Negative consequences: do no repeat.

– slow, rewards, punishment.

– Test and fail

– By observing what happens to other people.

• He believed in the existence of good .

Faculty of reason->thought and truth->head

Cure approach is associated with a masculine Enlightenment-era way of thinking

• Aristotle's ethics are an attempt to answer two questions:

– virtue is knowledge" • Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) a German philosopher

nobody errs willingly" • People’s wills should be based on moral rules

– "Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong.“

– Ethics aims at systematic explanation of its subject matter. It systematically aims at

– Lay off of the employees • The nature of Ethics:

• Ethics: A Theoretical science or a Practical science? • Normative Ethics

• These competing considerations favour different alternatives.

• Others simplify by over-emphasizing the social responsibility of organizations and their

• Utilitarianism: Moral standards are applied to the outcome of an action or decision (a

• Societal realm: concerned with the common good

• Moral sensitivity: recognizing, interpreting and framing ethical situations

• Moral motivation: prioritizing ethical values over financial gain or self-interest

• Step III: Decide the right thing to do

• Evaluate and reassess

– Did things turn out the way you expected?

The Professional Ethic: Do only what can be explained before a committee of

The Virtue Principle: Do what demonstrated the virtues expected.

Management Decision, 28:8 (1990): 20–24, see Figure 3

• the establishment of a training school

• the establishment of a university school

• the establishment of a local association

• the establishment of a national association

• the introduction of codes of professional ethics

• Power • "high standards of professional and intellectual excellence,”

• Accountability • Capitalist morality

• Professions typically require a significant period of hands-on, practical experience in the

• Clients rather than customers

Direct working relationships – The right

– (ii) protect and further develop the profession.

– Codes can present a positive image to the public

– Professionals stand in a fiduciary relationship with the public.

– Code of ethics functions as a commitment by the profession as a whole that engineers

– Positive motivation for ethical conduct

– Can serve as legal support for engineers for professional obligations

• Education and mutual understanding:

• Also for paralegals

• An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific

• The breach of a legal obligation