August 1, 1946

CANONS OF JUDICIAL ETHICS

In the interest of the administration of justice, the following Canons of Judicial Ethics, proposed by the Philippine Bar Association and approved by the judges of First Instance of Manila re hereby adopted for the guidance of and observance by the judges under the administrative supervision of the Department of Justice (now of the Supreme Court), including municipal judges and city judges:

1. Relations of the judiciary

The assumption of the office of judge casts upon the incumbent duties in respect to his personal conduct which concern his relation to the State and its inhabitants, the litigants before him, the principles of law, the practitioners of law in his court, and the witnesses and attendants who aid him in the administration of its functions.

2. The public interest

The courts exist to promote justice; and thus to aid in securing the contentment and happiness of the people. Their administration should be speedy and careful. Every judge should at all times be alert in his rulings and in the conduct of the business of his court, so far as he can, to make it useful to litigants and to the community. He should avoid unconsciously falling into the attitude of mind that the litigants are made for the courts instead of the courts for the litigants.

3. Avoidance of appearance of impropriety

A judge's official conduct should be free from the appearance of impropriety, and his personal behavior, not only upon the bench and in the performance of judicial duties, but also in his everyday life, should be beyond reproach.

4. Essential conduct

He should be temperate, patient, attentive, impartial, and, since he is to administer the law and apply it to the facts, he should be studious of the principles of the law, diligent in endeavoring to ascertain the facts.

5. Industry

He should exhibit an industry and application commensurate with the duties imposed upon him.

6. Promptness

He should be prompt in disposing of all matters submitted to him, remembering that justice delayed is often justice denied.

7. Punctuality

He should be punctual in the performance of his judicial duties, recognizing that the time of litigants, witnesses, and attorneys is of value and that if the judge is unpunctual in his habits he sets a bad example to the bar and tends to create dissatisfaction with the administration of justice.

8. Court organization

He should organize his court with a view to prompt and convenient dispatch of its business and he should not tolerate abuses and neglect by clerks, sheriffs, and other assistants who are sometimes prone to presume too much upon his good-natured acquiescence by reason of friendly association with him.

9. Consideration for witnesses and others

He should be considerate of witnesses and others in attendance upon his court.

10. Courtesy and civility

Judges should be courteous to counsel, especially to those who are young and inexperienced, and also to all others concerned in the administration of justice in their courts.

They should also require, and, as far as their power extends, enforce on the part of clerks, court officers and counsel civility and courtesy to witnesses, litigants and others having business with the court.

11. Appointments of the judiciary and their compensation

Trustees, receivers, masters, referees, guardians, and administrators appointed by a judge to aid in the administration of justice under his supervision should have the strictest probity and impartiality and should be selected with a view solely to their character and competency. Patronage of a judge is conferred by him for no personal or partisan advantage. A judge should not permit his appointments to be controlled by others than himself, and he should avoid the allowance of excessive compensation to the appointees. He should also avoid nepotism in his appointments.

12. Kinship or influence of parties and counsel

A judge should not, unless it is unavoidable, sit in litigation where a near relative is a party or of counsel; and he should not suffer his conduct to create the impression that any person can unduly influence him or enjoy his favor, or that he is affected by the rank, position, or influence of any party.

13. Independence

A judge should not be swayed by public claim or considerations of personal popularity.

14. Interference to conduct of trial

While a judge may properly intervene in a trial of a case to promote expedition and prevent unnecessary waste of time, or to clear up some obscurity, nevertheless, he should bear in mind that his undue interference, impatience, or participation in the examination of witnesses, or a severe attitude on his part toward witnesses, especially those who are excited or terrified by the unusual circumstances of trial, may tend to prevent the proper presentation of the cause, or the ascertainment of the truth in respect thereto.

Conversation between the judge and counsel in court is often necessary, but the judge should be studious to avoid controversies which are apt to obscure the merits of the dispute between litigants and lead to its unjust disposition. In addressing counsel, litigants, or witnesses, he should avoid a controversial tone.

He should avoid interruptions of counsel in their arguments except to clarify his mind as to their positions, and he should not be tempted to an unnecessary display of learning or a premature judgment.

15. Ex parte applications

Judges should discourage ex parte hearing of applications for injunctions and receivership where the order may work detriment to absent parties; they should act upon ex parte applications only where the necessity for quick action is clearly shown; if this be demonstrated, then the judge should endeavor to counteract the effect of the absence of opposing counsel by a scrupulous cross-examination and investigation as to the facts and the principles of law upon which the application is based, granting relief only when fully satisfied that the law permits it and the emergency demands it. The judge should remember that an injunction is a limitation upon the freedom of action of defendants and should not be granted lightly or inadvisedly. one applying for such relief must sustain the burden of showing clearly its necessity and this burden is increased in the absence of the party whose freedom of action is to be restrained even though only temporarily.

16. Continuances

Delay in the administration of justice is a common cause of complaint; counsel are frequently responsible for this delay. Judges, without being arbitrary or forcing cases unreasonably or unjustly to trial when unprepared, to the detriment of parties, may well endeavor to hold counsel to a proper appreciation of their duties to the public to their own clients, and to the adverse party and his counsel, so as to enforce due diligence in the dispatch of business before the court.

17. Judicial opinions

In disposing of controverted cases, judges should indicate the reasons for their action in opinions showing that they have not disregarded or overlooked serious arguments of counsel. They should show their full understanding of the case, avoid the suspicion of arbitrary conclusion, promote confidence in their intellectual integrity and contribute useful precedents to the growth of the law.

But the volume of reported decisions is such and is ever so increasing that in writing opinions which are to be published, judges may well take this fact into consideration, and curtail them accordingly, without substantially departing from the principles stated above. It is of high importance that judges constituting a court of last resort should use effort and self-restraint to promote solidarity of conclusion and the consequent influence of judicial decision. A judge should not yield to pride of opinion or value more highly his individual reputation than that of the court to which he should be loyal. Therefore, except in case of conscientious difference of opinion on fundamental principle, dissents should be discouraged.

18. Influence of decisions upon the development of the law

A Judge should be mindful that his duty is the application of general law to particular instance, that ours is a government of laws and not of men, and that he violates his duty as a minister of justice under such a system if he seeks to do what he may personally consider substantial justice in a particular case and disregards the general law as he knows it to be binding on him. Such action may have detrimental consequences beyond the immediate controversy. He should administer his office with a due regard to the integrity of the system of the law itself, remembering that he is not a depository of arbitrary power, but a judge under the sanction of law.

19. Idiosyncrasies and inconsistency

Justice should not be bounded by the individual idiosyncrasies of those who administer it. A judge should adopt the usual and expected method of doing justice, and not seek to be extreme or peculiar in his judgment, or spectacular or sensational in the conduct of his court. Though vested with discretion in the imposition of mild or severe sentences, he should not compel persons convicted or accused to submit to some humiliating act or discipline of his own devising, without authority of law, because he thinks it will have a beneficial corrective influence.

Judges imposing sentences should endeavor to conform to a reasonable standard of punishment and should not seek popularity either by exceptional severity or undue leniency.

20. Review

In order that a litigant may secure the full benefit of the right of review accorded to him by law, a trial judge should scrupulously grant to the defeated party opportunity to present the situation arising upon the trial exactly as it arose, was presented, and decided by full and fair bill of exceptions or otherwise; and failure in this regard on the part of the judge is peculiarly worthy of condemnation because the wrong done is remediable.

21. Legislation

Judges have exceptional opportunity to observe the operation of statutes, especially those relating to practice, and to ascertain whether they tend to impede the just disposition of controversies; and they may well contribute to the public interest by advising those having authority to remedy defects of procedure of the result of their observation and experience.

22. Infractions of law

The judge should be studiously careful himself to avoid even the slightest infraction of the law, lest it be a demoralizing example to others.

23. Inconsistent obligations

A judge should not accept inconsistent duties; nor incur obligations, pecuniary or otherwise, which will in any way interfere with his devotion to the expeditious and proper administration of his official functions.

24. Business promotions and solicitations for charity.

He should avoid giving ground for any reasonable suspicion that in utilizing the power or prestige of his office to persuade or coerce others to patronize or contribute, either to the success of private business ventures, or to charitable enterprises. He should, therefore, not enter into such private business, or pursue such a course of conduct, as would justify such suspicion, nor use the power of his office or the influence of his name to promote the business interest of others; he should not solicit for charities, nor should he enter into any business relation which, in the normal course of events reasonably to be expected, might bring his personal interests into conflict with the impartial performance of his official duties.

25. Personal investments and relations

A Judge should abstain from making personal investments in enterprises which are apt to be involved in litigation in his court; and, after accession to the bench, he should not retain such investments previously made, longer than a period sufficient to enable him to dispose of them without serious loss. It is desirable that he should, so far as reasonably possible, refrain from all relations which would normally tend to arouse the suspicion that such relations warp or bias his judgment, or prevent his impartial attitude of mind in the administration of his judicial duties.

It is highly improper for a judge to utilize information coming to him in a juridical capacity for purposes of speculation and it detracts from the public confidence in his integrity and the soundness of judicial judgment for him at any time to become a speculative investor upon the hazard of a margin.

26. Executorships and trusteeships

While judges are not disqualified from holding executorships or trusteeships, they should not accept or continue to hold any fiduciary or other position if the holding of it would interfere or seem to interfere with the proper performance of their judicial duties, or if the business interests of those represented require investments in enterprises that are apt to come before the court, or to be involved in questions of law to be determined by it.

27. Partisan politics

While entitled to entertain his personal view on political questions, and while not required to surrender his rights or opinions as a citizen, it is inevitable that suspicion of being warped by political bias will attach to a judge who becomes the active promoter of the interests of one political party against another.

A Judge should avoid making political speeches, contributions to party funds, the public endorsement of candidates for political office, or participating in party conventions.

28. Self-interest

He should abstain from participating in any judicial act in which his personal interests are involved. If he has personal litigation in the court of which he is judge, he need not resign his judgeship on that account, but he should, of course, refrain from any judicial act in such a controversy.

29. Gifts and favors

He should not accept any presents or favors from litigants or from lawyers practicing before him.

30. Social relations

It is not necessary to the proper performance of judicial duty that judges should live in retirement or seclusion; it is desirable that, so far as the reasonable attention to the completion of their work will permit, they continue to mingle in social intercourse, and that they should not discontinue their interests in or appearance at meetings of members of the bar. A judge should, however, in pending or prospective litigation before him be scrupulously careful to avoid such action as may reasonably tend to waken the suspicion that his social or business relations or friendships constitute an element in determining his judicial course.

31. A summary of judicial obligations

A judge's conduct should be above reproach and in the discharge of his judicial duties he should be conscientious, studious, thorough, courteous, patient, punctual, just, impartial, fearless of public clamour, and regardless of private influence should administer justice according to law and should deal with the patronage of the position as a public trust; and he should not allow outside matters or his private interests to interfere with the prompt and proper performance of his office.

(Canons of Judicial Ethics, [August 1, 1946])