12/29/09

Should elected officials be considered fiduciaries?

The fiduciary duty is a legal relationship of confidence or trust between two or more parties.  One party…acts in a fiduciary capacity to another, such as one whose funds are entrusted to it.  In a fiduciary relation, one person justifiably reposes confidence


good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. 


 


In such a relation, good conscience requires one to act at all times for the sole benefit and interests of another, with loyalty to those interests.


 


A fiduciary…must not put his personal interests before the duty, and must not profit from his position as a fiduciary, unless the principal consents.


 


A fiduciary cannot have a conflict of interest.


 


…A fiduciary must not profit from the fiduciary position.


 


This includes any benefits or profits which although unrelated to the fiduciary position, came about because of an opportunity that the fiduciary position afforded.


 


Secret commissions, or bribes also come under the no profit rule.


 


Conduct by a fiduciary may be deemed constructive fraud , when it is based on acts, omissions or concealments…that gives one an advantage.


 


Fiduciary


Wikipedia

2 comments:

Brenda Bowers said...

The Constitution of the United States of America begins, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." This statement declares a fiduciary duty is placed on any who are elected by the people to serve the people.

I do believe however that the time has come for We the People to follow the dictates of another document because our elected government has obviously failed to adhere to its Fiduciary Duty to the people.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Abner Doon said...

Absolutely