Address Court as 'Madam' not 'Your Lordship': Justice Jyoti Mulimani of Karnataka High Court to lawyers

The colonial practice of addressing judges as “Your Lordship/ My Lord” seems to be falling out of favour with more judges.

Justice Jyoti Mulimani of the Karnataka High Court has become the second judge from the Court to urge lawyers to address her court as “Madam”.

In this regard, a note which formed part of the daily cause list of Justice Mulimani's court stated the following:

“The Learned Members of The Bar are requested to address the Court as 'Madam”.

In April this year, Justice Krishna Bhat of the 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.

Justice Bhat further suggested that lawyers could use phrases such as "sir", which is consistent with the dignity of the Court under Indian circumstances.

Justice S Muralidhar, currently Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, also follows the practice of asking lawyers not to address him as 'My Lord' or 'Your Lordship'.

Last year, former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan had also urged all officers of the District Judiciary, including members of the Registry, to address the Chief Justice only as “Sir” instead of “My Lord” or “Lordship” in conformity with the applicable judicial and administrative precedents.

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

A similar observation was made by the Supreme Court itself way back in 2014. A PIL moved by an advocate, Shiv Sagar Tiwari to do away with the practice of addressing judges as “Your Lordship” and “My Lord”, had prompted a Bench of Justices HL Dattu and SA Bobde to point out that it was not compulsory to address the Court as “My Lord”, “Your Lordship” or even “Your Honour”.

While dismissing the PIL, the Bench said,

“When did we say it is compulsory? You can only call us in a dignified manner…. “How can this negative prayer be accepted by us? Don’t address us as “lordship”. We don’t say anything. We only say address us respectfully.”