What to Refer a Judge? – Anything Respectful!

August 20, 2020

What to Refer a Judge? – Anything Respectful!

“Your Lordship”, “My Lord”, “Your Honour” are the most common references to address judges that are used in the Indian courts. Earlier in the colonial era, the use of the term my lord or your lordship depicted dominance of judiciary and hierarchy of power but today the meaning of the term has been evolved to mean a judge or a respectable person. The only implicit meaning it carries at present is its implied respect in the word. Cambridge dictionary defines the term ‘lordship’ as a “polite way of referring to or talking to a male peer without using his title”.[1] Besides God or Jesus Christ in the Christian religion, the term ‘lord’ has been defined in the Cambridge dictionary as a man who has a lot of power in a particular area of activity.[2]

Adv. Shiv Sagar Tiwari in his writ petition of 2014 claimed that these terms symbolize slavery and disregard the right to equality which is given to every citizen, therefore, the court should prohibit the use of such terms.[3] But the application was dismissed on account that the usage of such words has never been mandated by the judiciary and unfortunately this practice of using honourary words like ‘my lord’ or ‘your lordship’ are prioritized by the lawyers themselves.[4] Ironically, these references are inculcated in the very beginning of the study of the law in the law school where the students have advised the ideal use of such words in courts which they later realize is a practice drastically different from what they learnt.

The subject matter in the present article is to question the legality of the use of the words like ‘my lord’, ‘your lordship’ or ‘your honour’ which have been in question for almost a decade now. Indian law, as stated in various precedents, has never obligated the members of the bar to refer the judges with these terms in the court. In 2006, the “Progressive and Vigilant Lawyers Forum” filed an application seeking to do away with the colonial addressing of Judges as “My Lord” or “Your Lordship”.[5] The Supreme Court directed the petitioners to approach the Bar Council of India or the State Bar Councils to address this issue.[6] The Bar Council of India to resolve the above issue amended the Bar Council of India Rules exercising its power under Section 49 of Advocates Act 1961, through a Gazette notification dated May 6, 2006, and added the below provision to the act: -

“Consistent with the obligation of the Bar to show a respectful attitude towards the Court and bearing in mind the dignity of Judicial Office, the form of address to be adopted whether in the Supreme Court, High Courts or Subordinate Courts should be as follows:

“Your Honour” or “Hon'ble Court” in Supreme Court & High Courts and in the Subordinate Courts and Tribunals it is open to the Lawyers to address the Court as “Sir” or the equivalent word in respective regional languages.

EXPLANATION: As the words “My Lord” and “Your Lordship” are relics of Colonial post, it is proposed to incorporate the above rule showing respectful attitude to the Court.”[7]

The reason why this debate of how to address a judge is in question again is that recently, during an online hearing when a lawyer addressed the bench as “Your Honours”, the Chief Justice of India, S.A. Bobde, questioned the counsel as to whether he was appearing in the US Supreme Court to use such references to address the bench.[8] But referring to the rules of Bar Council of India, aren’t judges of Supreme Court and High Court to be referred to as “Your Honour”? Then why such remarks? It is difficult to understand the statement the CJI wanted to made and its significance.

There are various debates about prohibiting the use of such words in the court of law as it would dilute the dignity of the bench. Justice Sachar, former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, was of the view that “the dignity and strength of the bench is not dependent on the form of address—whether they are addressed as ‘Your Lordship’ or ‘Your Honour’— their powers as judges either in court or in protocol are not in any way curtailed”.[12] He further elaborated his view expressing that “form of address has no relevance to stature and position which the judiciary undoubtedly enjoys in our Republic and which is amongst the highest and it is the most important wing of the State.”[13] However, he did not deny that the form of addressing is a sensitive issue and can challenge the impressions of the respect and dignity of the judiciary.[14]

All over India, there are several High Courts that have issued notification requesting the lawyers and those appearing in front of the court to not use terms like “My Lord” and “Your Lordship” to address judges in the courts of law. The first one to take the step of denying the use of “My Lord” and “Your Lordship” was Kerala High Court Advocates Association which unanimously agreed to stop using the too honourary terms.[9] In 2009, Madras High Court asked the lawyers to refrain from using these terms. Last year on 14^th July, Rajasthan High Court judges unanimously issued notice to desist the counsels from using such references.[10] Recently, Chief Justice of Calcutta had requested the district officer to address him as sir instead of using terms like “My Lord” or “Your Lordship”. Advocates in other states including Punjab and Haryana have also considered abstaining the use of such terminologies.[11]

Such practises have become quite popular in the Indian Judiciary but isn’t the requirement of addressing the judges in the court a bar of respect. According to the Bar Council of India Rules, anything which is respectful can be used to address the judges, then why such refrainment? Aren’t the terms “My Lord” or “Your Lordship” respectful for the judges, considering today the meaning of the term has evolved and now it does not depict slavery. It is the responsibility of the advocates or the representatives in the court to refrain themselves from using such words if they feel uncomfortable instead of questioning others right to refer judges as they respectfully desire. Further, what remains ambiguous is the definition of respectful terms that can be used to refer to judges.

Arguing that such traditional practices of referring judges as "Your Lordship", "My Lord" or "Your Honour" harm the country’s democratic status would be wrong since the refrainment of the use of such words is a request and not an obligation imposed by the courts. The courts in India use the terms to refer judges which implicitly and explicitly depicts respect and only respect. Addressing a person which provides fair justice can be equated to a highly respectful person such as the Lord but that would not mean the dominance of them over the addresser. The High Court and Court of Appeal of the UK still refer the judges as your lordship/ladyship or my lady/lord in the court of appeals.[15] However, there are countries like the US and Australia which have denied the use of archaic terms and now use the terms like “Mr Judge” or “Your Honour” to address the judges.[16]

While reviewing the practicality of the use of these terms in Indian courts, it is observed that majority of the advocates are of the opinion that the use of these words to please the judges thereby to obtain an order in their favour. The same reason can be deduced for referring to various lower courts judges as “Huzoor” or “Janab”. Changing this practice which has been accustomed by the professionals would be difficult, even though judges don’t mind being addressed as “Sir” or “Your Honour”.

The problem of “too much respectful pleasing” is not limited to the courtroom, the use of high honourary words is the traditional manner of the 150 years old Indian Judiciary which is still continued. If we analyse the petitions/applications filed before any court, more than the arguments honourary terms have become an integral part of the application to please the judges so as to request them for favourable orders. For instance, every petition in the High Court or Supreme Court starts with “most respectfully showeth…” and every prayer reaches the high note and is submitted as “it is most respectfully, humbly, prayed in front of this court to grant…”. The question is why can’t these ‘extras’ be replaced with phrases like ‘respectfully’ or ‘it is requested…’. Instead of elaborative unnecessary material respect, the judicial system should focus on arguments and cases which are important for granting justice. Not using heaving honourary words for showing material respect to judges similar to the US Legal System will help in concretising and shortening of the applications eventually leading to a more efficient justice system.

In the end, it comes to a lawyer’s argument which will have the power to decide justice and not the heavy words used to address judges. Judges are not concerned about the term used to refer them but that justice is provided to each and every citizen. The only thing they demand is respect and decorum in their court. The sole objective is providing justice.

Disclaimer: We don't intend to disregard or disrespect the Indian Judiciary by this article. We apologise for any offensive words or statements(if any) used in the present article.