The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : As a matter of habit

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Friday, Jun 15, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

As a matter of habit

Old habits die hard, especially when it comes to a change in the formal way of addressing High Court judges.

Most of the senior lawyers refuse to let go of the old colonial address.

Keeping with the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) decision to scrap the old practice of addressing a judge as “Your Lordship” or “My Lord,” the Kerala High Court Advocates Association recently asked its members to address judges as “Your Honour” or “this Honourable Court.”

More often than not, lawyers slip into the old form of addressing judges during their heated arguments in courts.

The BCI decided a year ago to do away with the colonial terms following the intervention of the former Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal in a public interest case.

Judges in lower courts are to be addressed as “Sir” instead of “Your Honour.”

Meanwhile, the High Court has decided to give new numbers for court halls. Instead of the existing Roman numeral, the court halls will be given numbers corresponding to the floor in which the court hall is located. In case more than one court hall is on a floor, English alphabet will be suffixed.

The decision which will come into force from June 18 would end the controversy over omitting number XIII.

K.C. GOPAKUMAR

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