RULES FOR FRESHER’S MOOT COURT COMPETITTION-

I. PROCEDURE

1. Moot Court Committee of Chanakya National Law University is organising Fresher’s

Moot Court Competition on 15th March, 2023. The purpose of the Fresher’s Moot Court
Competition is to expose the Fresher students to the Moot Court Competition and as such
the ranks of the Fresher’s Moot would not be valid to apply for National Moot Court
Competitions. (Note: - The top teams in the Fresher’s Moot may be permitted to use their
ranks to participate in certain specified Moot Court Competitions at the discretion of the
MCC as an incentive for doing well in Fresher’s Moot)
2. All the students of the 2022-2027 batch are eligible to participate in the said Fresher’s
Moot Court Competition.
3. All the teams 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 accompany them in the court.
5. Each individual’s oral pleadings and memorials will be marked out 100
Total Marks = Oral argument of Speaker 1 (100) + Oral
Argument of Speaker 2 (100) + Memorial (100) = 300 total
marks

II. TEAM COMPOSITION

Each team must comprise of maximum 3 members (2 speakers and 1 researcher).

Subsequently, if a team is allotted a moot court competition, they cannot withdraw from the
allotted moot, otherwise no further moot shall be allotted to them. No further addition or
deletion of names will be allowed under any circumstances after submission of the registration
forms.




 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 if the Applicant waives off their rebuttal
time. Sur-rebuttal time is granted in order to respond to the rebuttals made by the
Applicants, and therefore should not be used to rebut the Applicants.

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. Noncompliance 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. SCORING

General Guidelines:

1. Each judge will score each participating team; the judges’ scores for that round will be
added to determine the team’s oral- argument score for a round.
2. Scoring Criteria: Oral rounds: The maximum score a speaker can get is 100 marks. The
criteria for evaluation in the Oral Rounds are as below:

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION MAXIMUM MARKS

Knowledge Of Law 30

Application Of Law To Facts 25

Ingenuity & Ability To Answer Questions 30

Style, Poise, Demeanour & Courtesy 10

Time Management 5

Memorial rounds:

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION MAXIMUM MARKS

Knowledge, interpretation and application Of Law 25

Application Of facts 25

Ingenuity & Logical Reasoning 20

Use of authorities and precedents 20

Presentation and Formatting 10

Noncompliance of the above rules may lead to disqualification of the team.

For any further information, contact: mcc@cnlu.ac.in