Character
and Reputation
What
is “Character?” This question is deemed
not necessary for minimal persons but has an impact in the Philippine Legal
System. Character is defined as “the aggregate of the moral qualities which
belong to and distinguish an individual person; the
general result of the-one’s distinguishing attributes. Character is the moral
predisposition or habit, or aggregate of ethical qualities, which is believed
to attach to a person, on the strength of the common opinion and report
concerning him.” (Black’s Law Dictionary, 2017)
According to
Black’s Law Dictionary (2017); Reputation is “person’s credit, honor,
character, good name. Injuries to one's reputation, which is a personal right,
are defamatory and malicious words, libels, and malicious indictments or
prosecutions. Reputation of a person is the estimate in which he is held by the
public in the place where he is known.”
Character and reputation are required in Law Profession in the Philippines; because being a Lawyer is the agent of truth and justice; hence Law Profession requires high morale-character and reputation. If a person’s character and reputation was already stained with crime against moral turpitude; he/she cannot be allowed to become a lawyer. In the case of Teves vs. Comelec, 2009; crimes against moral turpitude are listed and these are:
1. Abduction with consent[37]
2. Bigamy[38]
3. Concubinage[39]
4. Smuggling[40]
5. Rape[41]
6. Estafa through falsification of a
document[42]
7. Attempted Bribery[43]
8. Profiteering[44]
9. Robbery[45]
10. Murder, whether consummated or attempted[46]
11. Estafa[47]
12. Theft[48]
13. Illicit Sexual Relations with a Fellow Worker[49]
14. Violation of BP Bldg. 22[50]
15. Falsification of Document[51]
16. Intriguing against Honor[52]
17. Violation of the Anti-Fencing Law[53]
18. Violation of Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972 (Drug-pushing)[54]
19. Perjury[55]
20. Forgery[56]
21. Direct Bribery[57]
22. Frustrated Homicide[58]
Character shapes reputation because reputation
is the product of character; according to Helen Keller “character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience
of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and
success achieved.” This means that
character is built through time and the test of time due to the course of
adversaries and experience. Even though
a person has bad reputation; this does not mean that he has no character at
all; reputation is the sum total of characters plus the influence by the
society, environment and other elements that can shape reputation.
Being a law
students are tested in hardship of studies; pleadings and memorizations of
codals of every statute and laws of the land.
Law students are undergone with the shifting of characters to become the
few elites of the reputation as lawyers.
Truly law school is the training ground to build characters and
reputations as future lawyers someday who uphold truth, honor, dignity and
justice.
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