辩护律师保密义务的道德追问

An Ethical Inquiry into the Lawyer's Duty of Confidentiality

从义务论的角度,律师保密义务的确立体现了律师职业伦理是以“角色差异”为基础建构出来的道德领域。律师保密特免权是保密义务在对外关系上的延伸,作为一种法律职业特权,其主体应为律师。律师保密义务肯定论的理由主要包括:诉讼程序的对抗制、委托人的自治性和委托人对律师的信赖基础。律师保密义务否定论的理由则为律师的社会责任、律师的独立性。如果从社会关系的角度对保密义务的伦理属性进行综合评估,律师与委托人的信任关系构成职业伦理的基础,律师的社会角色定位决定着律师职业伦理的性质。律师保密义务的伦理基础是将大众伦理的普遍观念与职业的特殊性相结合,但并不能排斥律师角色的社会公益性。我国的除外制度过于狭窄,在逻辑上很难说是律师保密义务的例外。律师保密义务的合伦理性还需要通过丰富的个案实践不断地接受道德追问得以深化。

From an obligation-based perspective,the establishment of a lawyer's duty of confidentiality embodies the ethical domain constructed based on“role differentiation”in the legal profession.The privilege of lawyer-client confidentiality is an extension of the duty of confidentiality in external relations and is a legal professional privilege that primarily applies to lawyers.The reasons supporting the affirmative argument for the duty of confidentiality include the adversarial nature of the litigation process,the autonomy of the client,and the foundation of trust between the client and the lawyer.The reasons opposing the duty of confidentiality emphasize the lawyer's social responsibility and independence.If we comprehensively assess the ethical nature of confidentiality from the perspective of social relations,the trust relationship between lawyers and clients forms the foundation of professional ethics,and the social role of lawyers determines the nature of legal professional ethics.The ethical foundation of a lawyer's duty of confidentiality combines universal ethical notions with the particularity of the profession,without excluding the social utility of the lawyer's role.The narrow scope of exceptions in China's legal system makes it difficult to logically argue that they constitute exceptions to the duty of confidentiality.The ethical validity of the duty of confidentiality for lawyers still needs to be further deepened through enriched case practices and continuous moral inquiry.