The following article by William D. North, former Executive Vice President and General Counsel, first appeared in the August 1978 edition of The Executive Officer.
The Code of Ethics of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® represents one of those rare creations of man—a living document; a document which somehow preserves its significance, relevance and usefulness despite the passing of years and the changing of the times.
The Code is an unusual Gift of Vision: the vision of those who dreamed that the business of real estate could become a profession, the vision of those who believed that the search for the highest and best use of the land required the highest and best measures of professional responsibility, and the vision of those who recognized private ownership of the land as indispensable to political democracy and a free and prosperous citizenry.
It is this Gift of Vision which has enabled the Code to survive half a century of unprecedented social, political, economic, and legal change substantially unchanged.
