Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 98-8 (1998) · Competence To Certify Arms Storage Rooms
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
Featured
Engineer A Military Certification Deception Prohibition Instance
prevails over
Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Army Certification Request Triggering Competence Boundary
- Engineer A Military Facility Competence Gap — Public Safety Dimension
- Engineer A Outside Competence for Arms Storage Certification
Engineer A BER 94-8 Peer Competency Challenge and Escalation Instance
prevails over
Engineer B BER 94-8 Structural Footing Out-of-Competence Refusal Instance
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER 94-8 Precedent — Engineer B Structural Footing Competence Gap
Engineer A Military Arms Storage Certification Refusal Competence Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A Training Fund Unavailability Non-Excuse Recognition
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Resource Constrained Training Access
- Training Funds Unavailable Blocking Competence Remediation
Engineer A Institutional Role Non-Expansion Recognition Instance
prevails over
Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Army Certification Request Triggering Competence Boundary
- Engineer A Military Facility Competence Gap — Public Safety Dimension
- Engineer A Outside Competence for Arms Storage Certification
Engineer A Arms Storage Safety Public Welfare Paramount Recognition
prevails over
Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Army Certification Request Triggering Competence Boundary
- Engineer A Military Facility Competence Gap — Public Safety Dimension
- Engineer A Outside Competence for Arms Storage Certification
Engineer A Military Arms Storage Certification Refusal Competence Obligation
prevails over
Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Army Certification Request Triggering Competence Boundary
- Engineer A Military Facility Competence Gap — Public Safety Dimension
- Engineer A Outside Competence for Arms Storage Certification
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer A Arms Storage Safety Public Welfare Paramount Recognition vs Engineer A Military Arms Storage Certification Refusal Competence Obligation
Engineer A Institutional Role Non-Expansion Recognition Instance vs Engineer A Military Arms Storage Certification Refusal Competence Obligation
What the board concluded
- It would not be ethical for Engineer A to certify as a qualified engineer the arms storage rooms and arms storage racks as requested by the Army official.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance yields to Engineer A Military Certification Deception Prohibition Instance. The yielding obligation ("Engineer A Military Authority Certification Direction Resistance") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
88-6
Whistleblowing - City Engineer
|
Engineer A Genuine Project Withdrawal Non-Substitution Sanitary System | Engineer A Covert Advisory Continuation to Technician B | Administrator-Ordered Responsible Charge Transfer to Technician B; Engineer A Covert Advisory to Technician B |
|
92-4
Public Welfare - Duty Of Government Engineer
|
Engineer A Pressure Yielding Abrogation Prohibition | Engineer A Superior Expediting Directive Resistance | Employment Pressure on Engineer A to Issue Non-Compliant Permit |
|
73-9
Endorsement of Project by Local Chapter
|
Engineers A and B Compensated Civic Engineering Participation Permissibility | Engineers A and B Professional Affiliation Non-Exploitation Threshold Assessment | Engineers A and B Professional Affiliation Advantage Threshold; Engineers A and B Professional Society Endorsement Solicitation |
|
07-10
Public Health and Safety—Knowledge of...
|
Proportional Multi-Step Escalation — Engineer A Barn Snow Load Non-Imminent Collapse Risk | Engineer A BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Override Full-Bore Multi-Authority Escalation | Present Case Non-Imminent Barn Structural Risk |
|
98-2
Gifts To Foreign Officials - Application...
|
Engineer A Public Welfare Non-Subordination to Corrupt Procurement Gain | Engineer A International Engineering Procurement Competitive Integrity | -- |