Judges Not To Be Addressed By "My Lord" And "Your Lordship": Rajasthan HC

In a significant move, the Rajasthan High Court today issued a notice requesting counsels and those appearing before the judges to desist from addressing the Hon'ble Judges as "My Lord" and "Your Lordship".

The notice was issued following a unanimous resolution taken by the Full Court in a meeting held on 14th July. Such move was taken "to honor the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India".

Earlier in January, 2014, a bench of Justices H.L Dattu and S.A Bobde had observed that addressing judges through such terms were not compulsory and judges only needed to be addressed in a dignified manner. The Bench was a hearing a PIL seeking prohibition of usage of such terms to address judges stating that it went against the dignity of the country. The Court however had rejected the PIL on the grounds that it could not direct lawyers on how to address the Court. A similar observation was made by Justice Chandru of Madras High Court in 2009 when lawyers were asked to refrain from using such terms.

In 2006 the Bar Council of India had passed a resolution prohibiting the usage of such terms stating such usage was a relic of the colonial past.

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