Importance of Moot Courts in legal education

Clinical legal education has an important role in transforming a law student to a good advocate. In this transformation, moot courts plays a vital role. In this article let us try to understand the importance of moot courts OR in other words, the advantages of moot courts OR the educational value of moot courts.

Major advantages of active participation in moot courts are as follows;

1. It rectifies the defects of class room lecture methods.
2. Each branch of law, which is connected with the moot problem,are simultaneously taught in functional manner.
3. An effective technique of teaching law by means of practical training.
4. It helps the law student to develop his argumentative talent. At the same time, moot court will also help him to check his irrelevant behaviours.
5. Without attending the ordinary courts, students can learn the court procedures by participating in moot court.
6. By participating in a moot court, students learn about the relevant facts of the moot problem,arguments of both the sides, and the judgment.
7. Moot court helps the law students to learn the theory of law by way of practical approach.
8. Moot court enhances argumentative talent of the law student as well as his presentation skills in a timely manner.
9. Moot court further enhances the research skills of the students.
10. Moot court helps to develop self-possession, fluency, clarity or enunciation, practice of court procedure, and the art of persuasion and presentation of moot problem (cases).
11. Moot court helps the student to develop his ability to argue for the party with Court etiquette.
12. Moot court will also help the law students to learn the duties of an advocate. It further, help the student to develop their presentation skills as well as court mannerisms.

How to plan and organise Moot Court Competition

Moot Court Practice is a compulsory paper included in the syllabus of final year law degree (Either three year LL.B OR five year LL.B) course. This paper was included in the syllabus based on the recommendation of the Bar Council of India.

Therefore, it is mandatory to all institutions which are offering either five year integrated law degree courses or three year LL.B, to plan and conduct Moot Courts for its final year students of law degree course.

A good deal of advance preparation is required to organise a Moot Court Competition; either National Moot Court Competition OR International Moot Court Competition. Generally, one or two teaching staff of the institute will be assigned with the task of organising such Moot Court Competitions.

They play an important role in the organisation and success of any Moot Court Competition. Thus, most of the administration as well as the clerking and general preparation for a Moot Court Competition tends to fell upon such Masters OR Mistresses.

Though there will be a Student Committee headed by Masters OR Mistresses, other faculty members of the institution will also share the administrative burden.

Selection of Moot Problem

Moots are related to appeals and the Mooters shall understand the practice grounds of an appeal OR on what law point an appeal was made. Since the appellate court does not have access to witness or evidence, the Mooters shall assume that, the facts as presented in the Moot Problem have been found by the trial judge and the appellate court will not review a finding of the facts.

It is important to note that, all submissions to a Moot Court Competition are submissions concerning issues of law and not of facts of the problem. Therefore, cases of Supreme Court and High Courts shall be considered for selecting and finalising the Moot Problem. Because, in Supreme Court and High Courts, cases are decided on the basis of question of law than the question of fact.

Another method of organising Moot Court is the discussion on decided case OR the Writs which are filed before the Supreme Court OR High Courts. This will help the students to prepare Moot Arguments based on the question of law as well as to learn the law by practice.

Another method of conducting Moot Court Competition is to prepare an imaginary case as Moot Problem. However, such Moot Problem shall be dealing with the question of law.

Similarly, depending upon the nature of the Moot Court Competition, Moot Problem shall be prepared in relation to an already decided case in a foreign country dealing the question of law of that specific State. 

Moot Problem may also be set based on the Awards delivered by various Alternative Dispute Resolution Organisations, such as WTO, International Court of the United Nations Organisations etc.

Court, Moot Court, Mock Court and Mock Trial

Court is a body in the Government to which the public administration of justice is delegated. It is a place where cases are heard and justice is judicially administered. In other words, Courts are empowered to hear and determine issues between parties.

In this regard, we can say that, Court is an organised body with defined powers, meeting at certain times, and places, for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this, its proper business, by its proper offices.

Three essential components, which constitute a court, are;

1. Actor: the plaintiff who makes the complaint about an injury caused to him
2. Reus:the defendant who was called upon to make satisfaction for it
3. Judex: the judicial power to examine the truth of the fact

Moot is a mock judicial proceeding set up to examine a hypothetical case as an academic exercise. It is a subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty. By virtue of Merriam Webster, online dictionary moot is a deliberative assembly primarily for the administration of justice; especially: one held by the freemen of an Anglo-Saxon community.

According to Oxford Dictionaries (Online Edition), moot means a mock judicial proceeding set up to examine a hypothetical case as an academic exercise: the object of a moot is to provide practice in developing an argument.

Moot Court is a mock court at which law students argue imaginary cases for practice. It is an artificial court generally set up in the law schools and law colleges for law students. Moot Courts are generally used as a form of clinical legal education OR clinical legal training for law students. However, there are various societies and cells, which do conduct moot courts as a competition event.

The term mock means imaginary or not real. Mock Courts are imaginary courts, which functions similar to that of an ordinary court for providing training to law students. At the same time, a Mock Trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials mimic lower-court trials, while moot court mimics appellate court hearings.