If you stop saying 'My Lords,' I will give you half of my salary; use 'Sir' instead: Supreme Court to lawyer

The Supreme Court recently asked counsel to not use the phrases 'Your Lordships' or 'My Lords', and to instead use 'Sir' to address judges.

A Bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha took objection to a counsel repeatedly using the terms.

Justice Narasimha even offered the advocate half of his salary if he stopped the pratice and said 'Sir' instead.

"How many times you will say 'My Lords'? If you stop saying this, then I will give you half of my salary. Why don't you use 'Sir' instead?" he remarked.

In 2006, the Bar Council of India (BCI) had passed a resolution asking lawyers to refrain from addressing judges as "My Lord" and "Your Lordship". As per Chapter III-A of the amended BCI Rules,

"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."

Several judges of the High Court have advised lawyers to avoid using the colonial-era phrases.

The First Bench of the Orissa High Court headed by then Chief Justice S Muralidhar had last year urged advocates and parties-in-person appearing before it to avoid using 'My Lord', 'Your Lordship', 'Your Honour' or the prefix 'Hon'ble' .

In 2021, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of the Punjab & Haryana High Court had requested lawyers not to address him as 'Your Lordship' or 'My Lord' and to refrain from using terms such as 'obliged' and 'grateful' while arguing cases before him.

Justice Devan Ramachandran of the Kerala High Court had assured a lawyer that she may address him as 'Sir', instead of the usual honorifics 'My Lord' and 'Your Lordship' used during court proceedings in the higher judiciary.

The Bench of then Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy of the Madras High Court in 2021 had asked lawyers to address judges as 'Sir'.

In April that year, Justice Krishna Bhat of the Karnataka High Court had requested lawyers appearing before his Court to avoid using terms such as 'Lordship' or 'My Lord' to address the judges on the Bench. In June, Justice Jyoti Mulimani of the same High Court has become the second judge from the Court to urge lawyers to address her court as 'Madam'.

In July 2020, Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan of the Calcutta High Court had urged against being addressed as 'My Lord' or 'Lordship' while being addressed in his capacity as a Judge.

In 2019, the Full Court of the Rajasthan High Court had resolved to do away with the practice of referring to judges as 'My Lord' and 'Your Lordship'.