‘My Lords’ in High Court fine with ‘Sir’

Apr 09, 2011, A day after Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar association unanimously passed the resolution to start addressing the judges as “Sirs” instead of “My Lords” — “the symbol of slavery of the British Rule and colonial legacy” — the courtrooms witnessed some light moments with some judges reminding the lawyers the new “rules”. “I will dismiss your case and refer your name to the High court Bar Association for action if you address me as ‘My Lord’”, a judge smilingly interrupted as the lawyer rose to say “My Lordship”.Another judge referring to allegations that judges misbehave with lawyers, said: “You (lawyers) will be accused of violating your own resolution if you do not address us as ‘Sir’”.

A few judges, who welcomed the new resolution, asked the lawyers not to shy away from addressing them as ‘Sir’.“The essence and mandate of the resolution is to abandon words like ‘My Lord’ and ‘Your Lordship’ as forms of addressing the bench. It is open to lawyers not to use any alternative expression of addressing the bench and simply to make their submissions,” said advocate Anupam Gupta, who used no form of addressing the Bench.“‘Sir’ is a very respectful word. I enjoyed addressing the judges as ‘Sir’ than ‘My Lord’ and will stick to the same,” said lawyer H C Arora. Those who addressed Judges as “My Lord” said that shifting to “Sir” will take time as using of “My Lord” has become a habit.“It is just that using of My Lord has become an integral part of our arguments. It is more a habit and acts as a helping verb to foster the smooth flow of our contentions,” said advocate Rishabh Kapoor.When asked as to what action shall be taken against the lawyers who do not adhere to the resolution, Bar president K S Dhaliwal said: “Since it is a very old practice, abandoning these form of addressing will take time. We will give our brother lawyers a month’s time and then we will assess as to whether the lawyers are obeying the resolution.”