What is a moot court ?

Specially For Law Student  

What is a moot court ?

Artificial courts for the law students are called moot courts in general language. It is a kind of a debate on the specific case decided by the court or specific subject or issue or an imaginary case prepared for this purpose. It is an extracurricular activity organized at many law colleges in which students take part in mock court proceedings that involve drafting memorials and speaking at oral argument. It is a great method of learning law and legal skills that require the students to analyze and argue both sides of a hypothetical legal issue using procedures. Mooting is considered a specific form of stimulation in which students are asked to argue points of law before a stimulated court. Moot court, however, does not involve actual testimony by witnesses or the presentation of evidence, but is based solely on the application of law to a fabricated legal issue.

The Moot problem is designed to argue before the appellate form because in most colleges they are conducting National level or International Level moot courts where judges pretend to belong to the Supreme Court or International Court of Justice. In fact, the moot problem can also be designed to argue before the trial court. Practically, it is done rarely.

What does it take to participate in a moot court competition ?

Participating in moot court requires great skill and a great research work. Without research most submissions of any counsel would be hot air.  A well-written submission, a logically built-up argument is easier for a judge to understand. Judges are more likely to pick up counsel’s line of argument and, hopefully, approve of the submissions. A well written, neat and uniformly presented document will show the judge that the effort has been put into the case.

Where to get started in a moot problem

The best way to start a memorial is to read the problem as many times as you can and clear up your basic regarding the topic involved in proposition. A lot of reading skill is required. Your initial reading will give you a lot of insight as to how to go about the entire research and then accordingly members can divide their work. Firstly, issues should be decided and divided among team members. It is very important to maintain a constant coordination regarding the research involved and keep on discussing various lines of arguments. It will make the work easier for all the team members and then all members can carry out their work accordingly.

    Every moot, like every court proceeding, has two sides, the appellants and the respondents. Usually you have to prepare for both sides. A Moot team comprises of, generally, 2 speakers and 1 researcher. Every moot has 2 aspects you are judged on. They are:

– Written submission called the memorial

– Oral submission

The written submission of memorial must contain the following things. The facts have to be arranged in the following manner. They…

Cover page
The cover page of each written submission of Memorial must have the following information:

The name of the forum before which the proceedings are being conducted;

The title of the competition;

The name of the case;

The Title of the Memorial (“Memorial submitted on behalf of the Plaintiff or Petitioner or Appellant” or “Memorial submitted on behalf of the Defendant or Respondent or Respondent”).

The cover pages must be Blue for Plaintiff or Petitioner or Appellant and Red for Defendant or Respondent or Respondent.
Plaintiff (Blue) v. Defendant (Red);

Petitioner (Blue) v. Respondent (Red);

Appellant (Blue) v. Respondent (Red);

The upper right side of the cover page must contain the Team Code that shall be assigned to each participating teams during Registration. Names of Participants, or Colleges or Universities should not to be mentioned anywhere on the Written Submission of Memorial