KOCHI: The advocates of Kerala High Court have stopped the 'colonial practice' of addressing judges as 'My Lord' or 'Your Lordship' and switched to 'Your Honour' and 'This Honourable Court'.
Kerala High Court Advocates Association President M P Krishnan Nair said that the 4,500-member strong association had unanimously resolved to stop addressing judges as 'My Lord' or 'Your Lordship' from June 11.
"We passed the resolution following a directive received by the association from the Bar Council of India in December, 2006. The Bar Council had resolved that the form of address in the Supreme Court and High Courts should be 'Your Honour' or 'Honourable Court' and in the subordinate courts and tribunals, it should be 'Sir' or an equivalent word in the regional language."
The Kerala High Court Advocates Association was perhaps the first one in the country to take this step. The earlier forms of addressing the bench were being dispensed with as these were considered as "relics of our colonial past", he said.
Stating that some members of the bench had responded favourably to the move, Mr Nair said one of the judges in the open court on Monday told the lawyers that he preferred to be addressed as 'Your Honour'.
"By force of habit, some lawyers may continue to say 'My Lord', but gradually they will get used to the new system," he added.
He said similar resolutions were to be passed by nearly 85 advocates associations at the district and 'taluk' level in the state to switch to the new form of address.
Noted jurist and former Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer, welcoming the Kerala High Court Advocates Association's decision, recalled that way back in 1957, he was the first one to make a suggestion to this effect at the All India Law Ministers Conference in New Delhi.
"Participating as the Law Minister of Kerala, I had suggested that both the dress and form of addressing the bench should be changed and a more native form be adopted.
The meeting, presided over by then Union Home Minister G B Pant, considered the suggestion but put off a decision for the next meeting. A decision was never taken," Justice Iyer said.
"I am satisfied that the Kerala High Court Advocates Association has become the first one in the country to take this step. Even if they have not decided anything about changing the dress, at least in the mode of address they have become 'swadeshi'," he added.
