Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety Invoked in BER 93-3 Analogy
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/141#Good_Intent_Does_Not_Cure_Procedural_Impropriety_Invoked_in_BER_93-3_Analogy
Properties
Instance of
GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety
Applied to
Engineer B BER 93-3 Replacement Design Engineer
Franchiser Client BER 93-3
Balancing with
Benevolent Motive Does Not Cure Ethical Violation
Client Interest Primacy Over Engineer Personal Advantage in Faithful Agent Role
Client Loyalty
Concrete expression
The Board's analysis of BER 93-3 reinforces that Engineer B's disclosure to Engineer A — though not motivated by personal advantage — still constituted an ethical violation because the procedural obligation of faithful agency requires adherence to client instructions regardless of the engineer's subjective intent; the good intent did not cure the impropriety of the unauthorized disclosure
Confidence
0.83
Importance
medium
Interpretation
Procedural obligations in professional relationships — such as the faithful agent duty to follow client confidentiality instructions — must be maintained regardless of the engineer's subjective motivation; benign intent is noted but does not alter the ethical evaluation
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The Board applied an objective client-interest test rather than a subjective motivation test, finding the violation established by the nature of the act and its effect on client interests
Source Evidence
Source text
In deciding that Engineer B's actions were not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics, the Board determined that Engineer B had an obligation as 'faithful agent and trustee' to not to tell Engineer A of his relationship with the client.
Text references
Engineer B did not appear to be motivated by personal advantage in informing Engineer A of his relationship with client.
In deciding that Engineer B's actions were not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics, the Board determined that Engineer B had an obligation as 'faithful agent and trustee' to not to tell Engineer A of his relationship with the client.
TTL
@prefix case141: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/141#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case141:Good_Intent_Does_Not_Cure_Procedural_Impropriety_Invoked_in_BER_93-3_Analogy a proeth:GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety Invoked in BER 93-3 Analogy" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer B BER 93-3 Replacement Design Engineer",
"Franchiser Client BER 93-3" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Benevolent Motive Does Not Cure Ethical Violation",
"Client Interest Primacy Over Engineer Personal Advantage in Faithful Agent Role",
"Client Loyalty" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board's analysis of BER 93-3 reinforces that Engineer B's disclosure to Engineer A — though not motivated by personal advantage — still constituted an ethical violation because the procedural obligation of faithful agency requires adherence to client instructions regardless of the engineer's subjective intent; the good intent did not cure the impropriety of the unauthorized disclosure" ;
proeth:confidence "0.83" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "141" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T13:49:21.568290+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "141" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T13:49:21.568290+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "medium" ;
proeth:interpretation "Procedural obligations in professional relationships — such as the faithful agent duty to follow client confidentiality instructions — must be maintained regardless of the engineer's subjective motivation; benign intent is noted but does not alter the ethical evaluation" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety" ;
proeth:sourcetext "In deciding that Engineer B's actions were not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics, the Board determined that Engineer B had an obligation as 'faithful agent and trustee' to not to tell Engineer A of his relationship with the client." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The Board applied an objective client-interest test rather than a subjective motivation test, finding the violation established by the nature of the act and its effect on client interests" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer B did not appear to be motivated by personal advantage in informing Engineer A of his relationship with client.",
"In deciding that Engineer B's actions were not consistent with the NSPE Code of Ethics, the Board determined that Engineer B had an obligation as 'faithful agent and trustee' to not to tell Engineer A of his relationship with the client." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 141 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T13:59:20.700629"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 141 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
141
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T13:49:21.568290+00:00
First case
141
Generated
2026-02-28T13:49:21.568290+00:00
Attributed to
Case 141 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T13:59:20.700629
Generated by
ProEthica Case 141 Extraction