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Avoid addressing judges as ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Lordship’: Orissa High Court appeals lawyers

“When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner,” a bench comprising justices H L Dattu and S A Bobde observed during the hearing of a petition way back in 2014.

Avoid addressing judges as ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Lordship’: Orissa High Court appeals lawyers

[File Photo]

The Orissa High Court on Monday appealed the lawyers appearing before the bench to desist from addressing judges as ‘My Lord’ or ‘Your Lordship’ and similar addresses to glorify the judgeship.

“All counsel and parties in concern are requested to try and avoid addressing the judges of this bench as ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Lordship’, ‘Your Honour’, or with the prefix ‘Hon’able’. Any other form of address, consistent with the decorum of the Court, including ‘Sir’, should suffice”, the High Court’s bench comprising Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar and justice R K Pattanayak appealed while releasing the schedule of business of the day.

In the business list of the day, the HC bench appealed to the advocates by the bench to avoid addressing presiding judges with terms like ‘My Lord’, ‘Your Lordship’, ‘Your Honour’ or ‘Hon’able’. The appeal was however not in the form of direction or order.

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It is pertinent to note here that the Supreme Court had earlier observed that Judges should be addressed in courts in a respectful and dignified manner and it is not compulsory to call them “my lord”, “your lordship” or “your honour”.

“When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner,” a bench comprising justices H L Dattu and S A Bobde observed during the hearing of a petition way back in 2014.

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