The Function Of Lawyers In The Perspective Of Human Rights

The function of lawyers means the influences and effects of the lawyer, as a sort of occupation, on the various aspects of the society because of its own characteristics, advantages and special status. The lawyers have many functions in modern society, such as promoting the development of economy, facilitating the democratization, realizing the purposes of laws, administrating social public affairs and so on. When comes to its source, we will find that the lawyers came from the defenders in the beginning. Therefore, protecting human rights is the essential function and holy mission of the lawyers. It is inherent in lawyers and is as well as the fundament of this occupation. To protect human rights implies the value of this job. Human rights mean those fundamental rights people should enjoy just because he/she is a person. The concept of human rights emphasizes freedom, equality and dignity everyone should enjoy. The spirit of protecting human rights is the backbone of modern civilization, and it is the spirit that leads human being to go to the modern civilization from original barbarism. However, human rights are always oppressed by public power, which usually indicates governmental power. Public power is the necessary production of social development, and it can maintain the world security and order and promote the social development. The forcible and authoritative features are the inherent properties of public power and can easily become the trespasser against human rights. Consequently, people need democracy and nomocracy to restrict the public power. As a part of the nomocracy, lawyers utilize the law as a powerful weapon against the public power, grounding on their own nongovernmental feature and independence. The participation of lawyers makes the judicial procedures more democratic and open, which can ensure the validity of the participation of other participants and restrict the abuse of public power so as to protect human rights effectively. Lawyers are the promoters of democracy as well as the constitutors of nomocracy, and they are also the practicers of protecting human rights. The purpose of this article is to discuss the function of lawyers in the perspective of protecting human rights. This article will prove that the fundamental mission of lawyers is to protect human rights, and study the facts and social conditions of carrying out these functions in China today. At last, it will provide some suggestions to consummate the protecting function of lawyers.