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LHC retains use of terms including My Lord for superior judges
LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) judge has decided that the decorum and usage of titles and bowing before judges while addressing them, as instituted by the British within the courts to distinguish the jurors from the lawyers and those standing in their respective boxes, are a tradition that need to be maintained.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the LHC had on September 6 dismissed a writ petition seeking a ban on the usage of terms such as My Lord and Your Lordship for addressing judges of superior courts. The short order of decision reserved on September 6, was released on Tuesday.
The petition had been filed by senior lawyer AK Dogar who prayed to the court for the ban on use terms such as My Lord for judges of superior courts and the tradition of bowing before them during court proceedings. He contended that in 1980, a presidential order was promulgated by the then president of Pakistan in pursuance of a meeting attended by the chief justices of the superior courts and a decision was taken in the light of the views of Bar Associations on how to address judges of the superior courts.
According to the presidential order, also printed in PLD 1981 Central statute 231, the use of the expressions my lord and your lordship and the like, in relation to a judge shall be discontinued and he shall only be addressed as sir or janab-e-wala or janab-e-aali or referred to in judgements, correspondence or other instruments as Mr Justice so and so or the like.
The petitioner had argued that the usage of the terms carried deep within it an element of slave-mentality in such terms which prompts us to follow the line of our erstwhile rulers, and the expression My Lord is only meant for Allah.
He had prayed for directions to federal and provincial governments, Pakistan Bar Council, Punjab Bar Council, Lahore High Court Bar Association and Lahore Bar Association to implement the presidential order restraining the lawyers from using title of My Lord for judges and bowing in front of them.
LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) judge has decided that the decorum and usage of titles and bowing before judges while addressing them, as instituted by the British within the courts to distinguish the jurors from the lawyers and those standing in their respective boxes, are a tradition that need to be maintained.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the LHC had on September 6 dismissed a writ petition seeking a ban on the usage of terms such as My Lord and Your Lordship for addressing judges of superior courts. The short order of decision reserved on September 6, was released on Tuesday.
The petition had been filed by senior lawyer AK Dogar who prayed to the court for the ban on use terms such as My Lord for judges of superior courts and the tradition of bowing before them during court proceedings. He contended that in 1980, a presidential order was promulgated by the then president of Pakistan in pursuance of a meeting attended by the chief justices of the superior courts and a decision was taken in the light of the views of Bar Associations on how to address judges of the superior courts.
According to the presidential order, also printed in PLD 1981 Central statute 231, the use of the expressions my lord and your lordship and the like, in relation to a judge shall be discontinued and he shall only be addressed as sir or janab-e-wala or janab-e-aali or referred to in judgements, correspondence or other instruments as Mr Justice so and so or the like.
The petitioner had argued that the usage of the terms carried deep within it an element of slave-mentality in such terms which prompts us to follow the line of our erstwhile rulers, and the expression My Lord is only meant for Allah.
He had prayed for directions to federal and provincial governments, Pakistan Bar Council, Punjab Bar Council, Lahore High Court Bar Association and Lahore Bar Association to implement the presidential order restraining the lawyers from using title of My Lord for judges and bowing in front of them.
