11 ,November 2019
Comparative Constitutional Law Advocacy’ presume competent advocates, a presumption that is linked directly to the need for high quality legal education of comparative constitutional law. Unless lawyers are trained by law schools to find and use foreign law, including foreign constitutional law, lawyers will never be competent comparative constitutional advocates. And unless lawyers develop competency as comparative advocates, comparative constitutionalism will never advance beyond its current occasional and largely cosmetic role. Without training and competence, advocates are unlikely to incorporate comparative constitutionalism at the early stages of litigation where it can make the greatest difference. Nor will the courts trust counsel to frame accurately the relevant comparative issues or debate their significance. Existing patterns of comparative constitutional advocacy illustrate the competency-based barriers to comparative constitutionalism.
The question that has to be answered is that whether they are inclined to structure their arguments on the basis of comparative approach while arguing the cases related to constitutional governance. How many lawyers are arguing on the basis of adoption of comparative perspective before supreme and high courts is a matter of debate. Only few lawyers who are connected to some foreign jurisdiction related matters or members of international forums but otherwise the argument are made based on the usual precedents which are already present in India. It is important to adopt comparative law methods in arguments and change the argument structure through involvement of foreign precedents. In constitutional jurisdiction when objects are clear arguments can be structured through comparative approach to have persuasive impression.
To adopt the trend of comparative constitutional law advocacy the training of students through comparative law teaching is the foremost important step required and further appreciation of pleadings based on comparative perspective by the judges is another important concern. The most important is realization of responsibility and acceptance of training by the advocates to adopt comparative approach in their pleadings in structured manner is the need in the globalizing world.
The legal academia has rightly recognized the need for increased deliberation in this aspect. In Fourth Prof. N. R. Madhava Menon SAARCLAW Mooting Competition, 2018-19 a South Asian Colloquium on Commonwealth Comparative Constitution and Public Law at Lloyd Law College, law colleges in Delhi, was organized on 16th & 17th of January, 2018 and witnessed presence of eminent speakers like R. Venkataramni, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Justice Avneesh Jhingan, Judge High Court of Punjab and Haryana, Mr. Justice Priyantha Jaywardhane, Judge Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and other eminent speakers as judges, lawyers and academicians from SAARC nations.
Author
Law Faculty,
Lloyd Law College