RULES FOR FRESHER’S MOOT COURT COMPETITTION-

I. PROCEDURE

1. All the first years will be eligible to participate in the Fresher’s Moot Court
Competition and they will be ranked as individuals.
2. All the participants will be divided into two pools, one for the speakers and other for
the researchers. No participant will be allowed to appear as both speaker and
researcher.
3. All the participants will have to prepare memorial/ written submission on the behalf
of any one side which will be decided after the draw of lots, which will be done
subsequent to registration.
4. On the day of the competition, Speakers shall appear for Oral arguments and
researchers shall appear in Researcher test.
5. Each individual’s oral pleadings, memorials and researcher’s test will be marked out
of 100.
Speaker total marks = Oral argument + memorial (100+100)
Researcher total marks = Researcher test + memorial (100+100)

II. MEMORIAL

Day for submission of the memorial will be decided by MCC.

 Memorial Style and Format

(a) Memorials must be written in PDF.

(b) Electronic documents submitted must contain no information or features other than those
required by this rule (e.g.no comments, tracked-changes, etc.). Breach of this provision will
be penalized by a deduction of penalty points.

 Memorial Structure

(a) Each Memorial shall contain the following sections in the following order:

(i) Front Page (ii) Table of Contents (iii) List of Abbreviations (iv) List of
Sources/Authorities (v) Statement of Facts (vi) Statement of Jurisdiction (vii) Questions
Presented (viii) Summary of Arguments (ix) Arguments Advanced (x) Prayer/Relief Sought
(b) Front Page

The Front Page of the Memorial must have only the following information, which should be
in the following order (this information should be centre aligned on the page, except where
stated otherwise):

(i) In the top right-hand corner of the page, the code allocated by the MCC followed by “A”
if an Applicant Memorial or “R” if a Respondent Memorial (e.g. Individual code 12 would
put “12A” in the top right-hand corner of the Applicant Memorial cover page).

(ii) The name and the year of the Competition

(iii) The title of the Case, referring to the relevant court and the parties.

(iv) The title of the document (i.e., “Memorial for Respondent” or “Memorial for Applicant”)

(c) List of Sources/Authorities and Footnotes

The list of sources must contain references to all page numbers where sources or authorities
are used or cited in the ‘Arguments’ section of the Memorial.

(d) Statement of Facts

The Statement of Facts should be limited to facts relevant to the ‘Arguments’ section in the
Memorial, and may not include unsupported facts, distortions of stated facts, argumentative
statements, or legal conclusions. A well written Statement of Facts ought not to be a
reproduction of the Case.

(e) Questions Presented

(i) In this section teams should present the legal questions the Court has been called upon to
decide in the context of the case. These must be presented as neutral questions, i.e., teams
should not state their position on the questions raised in this section. However, teams are
encouraged to formulate questions in a manner so as to justify their position with respect to
burden of proof.

(ii) The questions must be precise, relevant to the facts and each question should ideally not
be more than a sentence. While each legal question might have further sub-questions, teams
must state only the main legal questions in this section.
(f) Summary of Arguments

A good Summary of Arguments should consist of a substantive summary of the “Arguments”

section of the Memorial rather than a simple reproduction of the headings contained in the
Arguments section.

(g) Arguments

Substantive, affirmative legal argument or legal interpretation of the facts of the Proposition
may only be presented in the ‘Arguments’ section of the Memorial.

(h) Footnotes and Citations

20th Blue book Citation.

 Font and Spacing

(a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), the text of all parts of the Memorial must be in Times
New Roman, font size 12 and double-spaced.

(b) Headings and sub-headings throughout the Memorials may be in a different font size,
underlined.

(c) Footnotes must be single-spaced, Times New Roman, font size 10 with a 12-pt. space
between separate footnotes.

III. ORAL ROUNDS

 Time per participant and Rebuttal Time

a. Each oral round will be limited to thirty minutes; each individual will have 15 minutes to
argue.

b. Individuals representing the Applicant in a round may reserve up to three minutes of their
time for rebuttal by (1) informing the bailiff before the round how much rebuttal time will be
reserved and the time breakdown or (2) requesting rebuttal time from the presiding judge in
the beginning of the Applicant’s argument.

c. Previously reserved rebuttal time may be waived by the Applicant following the close of
Respondent’s argument. However, the Applicant may not otherwise reallocate rebuttal time
once the round begins.

d. Sur-rebuttal by the Respondent will not be allowed.

e. Each participating individual must intend to speak for at least ten minutes (in addition to
rebuttal time).

f. During the oral arguments, a bailiff will keep time for each team and provide the following
time cards: 10, 7, 5, 3, 1, and stop.

g. During the oral arguments, laptops or other electronic similar devices are not permitted at
counsel table.

 Anonymity

a. Although counsel may introduce themselves to the tribunal in the usual manner, the
affiliation may not be mentioned at any time before, during, or after the oral argument.

 Contact with Judges

a. All individuals participating are prohibited from speaking with the judges before a round.

b. Non compliance of the above rules may lead to disqualification of individual.

 Judges and Judging Criteria

a. Barring unforeseen circumstances, each round will be judged by at least two persons.

b. Oral argument judges will be provided with copies of the participants’ memorials.

c. Each judge will score each participating team member; the judges’ scores for that round
will be added to determine the individual’s oral- argument score for a round.

d. The scores of all judges will be averaged to determine the oral- argument portion of a
individual’s score.

e. The factors to be considered include, but are not limited to: organization and clarity;
analysis and thoroughness; knowledge of facts and law; courtroom manner and style; ability
to answer questions and control argument; persuasiveness; and professionalism.

 English

All oral arguments will be conducted in English.

 Visual Aids

Visual aids and other similar devices may not be used during oral argument. No documents
(cases, reports, etc.) should be handed to the judges.

 All the participants should conduct themselves ethically and with professionalism.
  Penalties may range from warnings, to point deductions, to disqualification,
depending on the nature and severity of the offense. Multiple offenses by a single
team will warrant more severe penalties.

Failure to comply with these rules will waive the complaint or challenge.

IV. RESEARCHER TEST

1. There will be 20 objective questions of 4 mark each and 2 subjective questions of 10

mark each.

2. The test will be of 45 minutes.

3. Questions of the test will revolve around moot problem only.

V. FORMATION OF TEAMS
1. After the declaration of result, teams will be formed by MCC.
2. Top two ranks from speaker pool and top one rank from researcher pool will be
clubbed to form a team comprising of three members.
3. In case of exhaustion of the researcher pool, top speakers remaining in the pool can
choose a researcher among themselves.
4. Discretionary power remains in the hands of MCC.