Legal behaviour: No crying out to ‘My lord’

‘Addressing judges by the title and bowing before them is against Islam’.

LAHORE:

A petition that challenges addressing judges of superior courts as “My Lord” and bowing before them during proceedings has been filed in the high court.

Syed Feroze Shah Gillani filed the petition in the Lahore High Court on Wednesday, saying that the title was a symbol of colonial power and against Islamic injunctions.

“It is un-Islamic to bow before any human being, more so before a person of authority,” he said adding, “Let us bow before God Almighty alone and not before any man.”

AK Dogar, the petitioner’s lawyer contended that on November 6, 1980, General Ziaul Haq had passed an order under which addressing judges as “My lord”, “Your lordship” and similar terms was to be discontinued. According to the order – printed in PLD 1981 Central statute 231 – a judge could only be addressed as “Sir” or “Janab-i-wala” or “Janab-i-aali” and referred to in judgments and correspondence “Mr Justice” so and so or the like.

The president had issued the order after a meeting attended by the chief justices of the superior courts and decisions were taken in the light of the views of bar associations, he said.

Dogar said that lawyers addressed the judges as “My lord” with the intention of obtaining relief for their clients and added that judges also liked to be addressed by such titles.

He prayed the court to issue direction to the federal and provincial governments, Pakistan Bar Council, Punjab Bar Council, Lahore High Court Bar Association and Lahore Bar Association to restrain lawyers from using the titles and from bowing before them.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2011.