The call to deliver a paper on ethics in conservation caused the writer to examine present thinking on the subject. British thinking depends heavily on the principles laid down by Roger Ellis in the late 1940s and these are analyzed. It is argued that for historical, practical, and theoretical reasons, they cannot be used as rigid rules for archival conservation, but are unquestionably the finest general guidance for all branches of conservation. Rigid rules negate ethics. Raising the standard of ethics can only be achieved through conservators with a wider and deeper training in scientific, practical, and philosophical disciplines. -- AATA