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Duties at the Legal Fringe: Ethics in Construction Law

Paper number
115

Professor John Uff CBE, QC

Centre of Construction Law & Management, The Michael Brown Foundation:
fourth public lecture delivered at The Great Hall, King's College, London
on 19th June 2003.

In the fourth Michael Brown foundation lecture, Professor
John Uff looks at the impact of ethics in construction law, necessarily
in terms of
the effect on the action of individuals who participate in construction
projects. He considers the meaning of ethics - whilst not offering a
definition. He looks at professionalism and asks whether it has any continuing
relevance today. He also looks at the impact of ethical standards at
three distinct stages: the initiating stage of drawing up contract documents,
obtaining tenders and placing contracts; the construction or operational
stage; and the post-construction accounting stage. He goes on to consider
how standards might be defined and enforced - and throws out a challenge
to the Society to consider how ethical standards might be maintained.

Introduction - Meaning of ethics - Professionalism - Ethics in the construction
process - Defining and enforcing ethical standards - Moving forwards
- Conclusion.

The paper is published by the Society with the kind permission of the
author and the Centre of Construction Law & Management at King's
College London.

The author: Professor John Uff CBE, QC, PhD, FICE, FCIArb, FEng, FKC
is the founding Nash Professor of Engineering Law at the Centre of Construction
Law & Management at King's College London.

Text 16 pages.

PDF file size: 110k