Listen carefully to judges, but answer immediately!
Published on: 29 July 2021, 09:29 am
Often, advocates do not pay attention to the observations of the judges or avoid answering their queries. This irritates a judge more than anything. The observations of judges indicate their thinking on the case, where it is going, what they want from the advocates and what line of argument they should pursue, writes JUSTICE YATINDRA SINGH, former chief justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court.
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COUNSELS must keep in mind, queries from judges are often on a point that they do not understand or arise when they want an advocate to understand the fallacy of their argument. Understanding such observations improves a lawyer's chances of winning the case, while a satisfactory answer to queries takes one far ahead in the profession. The best thing to do is answer the question the judge asks immediately.
Nevertheless, sometimes it is good advocacy to delay the answer. If it so happens, then the right thing is to acknowledge it and after adding the appropriate form of address mention as follows:
- 'The query is important, but may I finish the point that I am elaborating on? It will answer the query.'
- 'May I answer the query after finishing the point that I am elaborating.'
- 'I don't have the answer to the query just now. May I answer it after obtaining instructions or studying the point?'
In these situations, the judges will grant permission and will also have the satisfaction that they are not being ignored. I would like to elaborate with an incident from the court of Justice Hriday Nath Seth—but first, his brief biographical sketch.
Justice SN Seth was the father of Justice Seth. He was also a judge of the Allahabad High Court but died in office on 26 January 1951. On this day, a traditional match is played between the bar and the bench at Allahabad.