Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 85-3 (1985) · P.E. Requirement for County Surveyor Position
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
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Engineer A Public Sector Out-of-Competence Appointment Acceptance Prohibition
prevails over
County Commissioners Appointing Authority Competence Verification County Surveyor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- County Ordinance PE Requirement Regulatory Context
Engineer A Inescapable Ethical Violation County Surveyor Position
prevails over
Engineer A Consulting Practice Flexibility Non-Transferability County Surveyor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Consulting vs. Employment Asymmetry Inapplicability
Engineer A Public Sector Out-of-Competence Appointment Acceptance County Surveyor
prevails over
Engineer A Section II.2.c Specialist Retention Provision Misapplication County Surveyor
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Employment Context Competence Constraint — No Remediation Pathway
Engineer A Statutory Oversight Non-Delegability County Surveyor
prevails over
Engineer A Consulting Practice Flexibility Non-Transferability County Surveyor
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Consulting vs. Employment Asymmetry Inapplicability
Engineer A Domain-Specific Competence Verification County Surveyor Acceptance
prevails over
Engineer A Ethics Exceeds Legal Permissibility County Surveyor PE License
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Formal Credential Without Substantive Domain Competence — Employment Instance
Engineer A Oversight Role Domain Competence Prerequisite County Surveyor
prevails over
Engineer A Institutional Role Non-Expansion Competence County Surveyor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Chemical PE Appointed as County Surveyor
Board Mutually Dependent Code Provision Integrated Reading Section II.2 County Surveyor
prevails over
Engineer A Section II.2.c Specialist Retention Provision Misapplication County Surveyor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Employment Context Competence Constraint — No Remediation Pathway
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Board Prior Consulting Precedent Employment Context Inapplicability BER Cases 71-2 78-5 vs Engineer A Consulting Practice Flexibility Non-Transferability County Surveyor
Engineer A Cross-Discipline PE License Non-Sufficiency County Surveyor vs Engineer A Ethics Exceeds Legal Permissibility County Surveyor PE License
Engineer A Domain-Specific Competence Verification County Surveyor Acceptance vs Engineer A Oversight Role Domain Competence Prerequisite County Surveyor
What the board concluded
- It was unethical for Engineer A to accept the position as county surveyor.