Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
India

Don't Address Judges As ‘My Lord’, Rajasthan High Court Tells Lawyers

Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Jul, 2019 07:28 PM
  • Don't Address Judges As ‘My Lord’, Rajasthan High Court Tells Lawyers

In a first, the Rajasthan High Court has asked lawyers to abandon the colonial practise of addressing judges as ''My Lord'' or ''Your Lordship'', saying they are comfortable with simply being called ''sir''.


The high court took the decision to dispense with the archaic address for its judges on Sunday, in a full court meeting of all its judges from its two benches in Jodhpur and Jaipur.


"To honour the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India, the Full Court, in its meeting dated July 14, 2019, has unanimously resolved to request the counsel and those, who appear before the court, to desist from addressing Honourable judges as My Lord or Your Lordship, a notification issued by the registrar general of the high court read.


The notification requested lawyers and litigants to address judges simply as "sir" or "srimanji".


The resolution to abandon the practice of judges being addressed as ''My Lord'' was passed in the first Full Court meeting chaired by new Chief Justice S Ravindra Bhatt.


More than a decade ago, the Supreme Court too had ruled that addressing judges as ''My Lord'' or ''Your Lordship'' was not mandatory and that the judges could simply be addressed as ''sir'' as a mark of respect to them.


Following a lively debate between the bench and the bar over 15 years ago as to whether lawyers should abandon the colonial form of address like ''My Lord'', judges had opined that they were comfortable with being called ''sir''.


As a culmination of this debate, the Bar Council of India had passed a resolution in April 2006, doing away with the practice of addressing judges as ''My Lord'' or ''Your Lordship''.


The council had notified a new rule, calling upon lawyers to address judges in the Supreme Court and high courts as ''Your Honour'' or ''Hon'ble Court'' or plainly as ''sir''.


But it is for the first time that any high court has taken a decision and passed a resolution, advising lawyers to abandon the colonial and archaic practice of addressing higher courts'' judges as ''My Lord''.


The Rajasthan High Court Advocates' Association president Ranjeet Joshi lauded the resolution. "For this decision, the chief justice and other judges of the high-court deserved appreciation," Mr Joshi said.

 

MORE India ARTICLES

Gold Mobile Covers Worth 42 Lakh Seized From Chinese Men At Delhi Airport

The men were intercepted on Sunday night at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport before they could board their Air India flight to Hong Kong.

Gold Mobile Covers Worth 42 Lakh Seized From Chinese Men At Delhi Airport

One Year Jail For Prisoner After Fight Over Dera Chief's Adopted Daughter Honeypreet Insan

On September 27, 2017, Mukesh Raikwar, 26, had attacked fellow prisoner Pratap Rajput in Sagar's Central Jail with a tin dustbin.  

One Year Jail For Prisoner After Fight Over Dera Chief's Adopted Daughter Honeypreet Insan

Canadian IndiGo Employee Robbed Off Cash In Delhi

Canadian IndiGo Employee Robbed Off Cash In Delhi
The incident took place on the intervening night of July 12 and July 13 when a captain with the IndiGo airline, was waiting for his company cab, the police said.

Canadian IndiGo Employee Robbed Off Cash In Delhi

Chandrayaan-2: Carrying Indian Flag To Moon Top Priority For Twitterati As India Prepares To Land Rover On Moon In Global Space Race

As India's heavy lift rocket nicknamed 'Bahubali' and its passenger Chandrayaan-2 gear up for their historic flight to the Moon on July 15, Twitter users shared what they would like to take to the lunar surface, with most of them mentioning the national flag.  

Chandrayaan-2: Carrying Indian Flag To Moon Top Priority For Twitterati As India Prepares To Land Rover On Moon In Global Space Race

In A First, Punjab Hospital Opens Mobile De-addiction Centre

The centre is being run by a team of 7 members, including a psychiatrist, 2 pharmacists and 3 councillors.  

In A First, Punjab Hospital Opens Mobile De-addiction Centre

Rishikesh: Lakshman Jhula Declared Unsafe, Closed To Traffic And Pedestrians

A team of experts recommended immediate closure of the bridge to all traffic and pedestrian movement as it was not in a condition to sustain any more load, Additional Chief Secretary Om Prakash said.  

Rishikesh: Lakshman Jhula Declared Unsafe, Closed To Traffic And Pedestrians

PrevNext