Given the long years spent under the thumb of the erstwhile British Empire, addressing judges in court as "My Lord" and "Your Lordship" lingered on in the Indian system as an impact of colonial rule.
Judges on the High Court of Rajasthan unanimously decided to curtail the use of colonial-origin titles in a full court meeting and a resolution passed on Sunday (14th July).
"To honour the mandate of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India, the full court in its meeting has unanimously resolved to request the counsels and those who appear before the court to desist from addressing the Honorable Judges as 'My Lord' and 'Your Lordship'”, the judges stated in the resolution as reported by the New Indian Express.
The resolution was the idea of Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, Justice Ravindra Bhatt, who had discouraged the practice of addressing him as "My Lord" or "Your Lordship" by lawyers during his tenure at the High Court of Delhi.
Earlier in 2009, Madras High Court Judge Justice K Chandru banned lawyers from addressing the court as "Your Lordship".
In 2014, the then Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu said it was not mandatory to address judges as “Your Lordship”. The statement came as the Supreme Court was hearing a case filed by a lawyer, who pointed out that the use of such terms was not just a relic of the colonial era but also a sign of “slavery”.
