HC Bench bans using “My Lord” as address

Staff Reporter  :
Two judges of a High Court Bench have banned wording as “My Lord” toward them. The Bench of Justice Sheikh Md Zakir Hossain and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq instructed the lawyers not to use “My Lord” in this Bench.

The judges requested the lawyers to address their Bench as “Your Honour” or “Sir” in place of “My Lord”. An official of the Bench has issued a notice to this effect on Tuesday.
Contacted, Supreme Court’s Appellate Division Registrar Mohammad Saifur Rahman told the reporters that he heard about this instruction. He could not say details instantly whether there is any rule for addressing the SC judges.

However, a source in HC the Bench concerned said the lawyers have been using “My Lord” to address the SC judges since the British regime and it is a tradition in most of the Commonwealth countries.
There is no provision in the rules of the Appellate Division or High Court Division for addressing the judges as “My Lord”, according to the source.
The source said the then Chief Justice Fazle Kaderi Mohammad Abdul Munim, also known as FKMA Munim, had issued a notice on October 4, 1992 banning the use of wording “My Lord”. But the notification is not followed now.
There are total 53 benches for the HC and most of them are division (two-judges) benches, and three benches for the Appellate Division who are addressed as “My Lord” during the court proceedings.