UNIT IV

The best way to start a memorial is to read the problem as many times as
you can and clear up your basic regarding the topic involved in proposition. A
lot of reading skill is required. Your initial reading will give you a lot of insight
as to how to go about the entire research and then accordingly members can
divide their work.

Firstly, issues should be decided and divided among team members. It is

very important to maintain a constant coordination regarding the research
involved and keep on discussing various lines of arguments. It will make the
work easier for all the team members and then all members can carry
out their work accordingly.

Every moot, like every court proceeding, has two sides, the appellants and
the respondents. Usually you have to prepare for both sides. A Moot team
comprises of, generally, 2 speakers and 1 researcher.

Every moot has 2 aspects you are judged on. They are:

– Written submission called the memorial

– Oral submission

The written submission of memorial must contain the following things. The
facts have to be arranged in the following manner. They are:

 
Cover page
The cover page of each written submission of Memorial must have the
following information:

The name of the forum before which the proceedings are being conducted;
The title of the competition;
The name of the case;
The Title of the Memorial (“Memorial submitted on behalf of the Plaintiff or
Petitioner or Appellant” or “Memorial submitted on behalf of the Defendant or
Respondent or Respondent”).
The cover pages must be Blue for Plaintiff or Petitioner or Appellant and Red
for Defendant or Respondent or Respondent.
Plaintiff (Blue) v. Defendant (Red);

Petitioner (Blue) v. Respondent (Red);

Appellant (Blue) v. Respondent (Red);

The upper right side of the cover page must contain the Team Code that shall
be assigned to each participating teams during Registration. Names of
Participants, or Colleges or Universities should not to be mentioned anywhere
on the Written Submission of Memorial

Table of contents
It contains a list of chapters and paragraphs that are included in the
memorial. We can also mention page numbers of chapters and paragraphs.
By mentioning page numbers it will be easy for the judges and speakers to
find out the mentioned arguments. The argument is the most complex part
of the brief. Therefore, the headings and subheadings used within the
argument section should also be listed in the Table of Contents with the
corresponding page number.

Index of authorities
In this all the materials which support your argument have to be added. The
authorities of Supreme Court and High courts, foreign judgments, statutes,
and parliamentary debates are mentioned under the index of authorities.
Sources refer through articles, text books, journals, and websites are also
mentioned. This is not only helpful for the speaker but also useful for the
judge and other side speaker to easily determine what case laws,
constitutional provisions, statutes or other materials are being cited. Uniform
citation method has to be followed. Citation is crucial part of memorial; it
should be in correct format. Citation helps to determine from where the
certain cases, statutes or other materials have been taken. It gives easily
reference to the judges from where certain part has been taken.

List of abbreviations
It should contain all the abbreviations used in your memorial. Each
abbreviation should contain the full meaning and in whole memorial same
abbreviation should be followed. It is also necessary for the speaker to know
what abbreviations they are citing in their memorial.

Statement of facts/ Synopsis of facts

These statements of facts/ synopsis of facts are an important part in
memorial presentation. It generally convinces the court about your client’s
position and its point of view. A judge may be well versed in law but he
doesn’t know about the facts of your particular case. So, a brief summary of
facts have to be written clearly in the beginning of the memorial but
generally it should not be more than two pages. Knowing of facts in brief is
very necessary, so it is important for a speaker to go through the facts
carefully and only relevant facts should be mentioned in your memorial.
Facts should not be uninteresting. It should be in a manner that a person
enjoys reading and it proves on your side. The facts should not be assumed
one; it should be real as given in the proposition.

Statement of issues
This is a short introductory statement of the legal issues or points of law
involved in the case. It tells the judges precisely what legal issues the
speaker wants the court to decide. These statements should be phrased to
help one to argue for a particular conclusion rather than simply against the
other side. These issues are stated in question form and should be phrased in
such a way that it showed on its favor side. These issues are very short and
not lengthy so as to make an individual understand the very essence of it.
They are not more than one sentence. The sentence should start with
‘Whether’ and end up with the ‘Question mark’.

Summary of arguments
This is a brief summary of arguments based on the issues raised. It is short
introductory of issues mentioned in your memorial and each argument
should not be more than one paragraph. It only shows what you are arguing
for in brief.

Arguments advanced
This is the heart and soul of the memorial. Every part of the argument must
be supported by legal authority. Arguments should be well-organized and
convincing. Each point the team wants the court to consider in deciding the
case must be described, the reasons explained with appropriate references to
research materials used, and text citations should be inserted as frequently
as needed. Arguments should address legal precedent and policy issues.
Each part of the argument first addresses the issues supporting one’s own
case.

Then, address contentions anticipated to be brought up by the opposing

party. The argument should be written in forceful, active, positive language.
It is best to avoid the passive tense. Headings and subheadings are used to
help in clearly organizing the arguments. The same structure of headings and
subheadings should be summarized in the Table of Contents. The idea is to
do everything in terms of both form and substance to help the court
understand the reasonableness and logic of the argument, and thus decide in
one’s favor.

Prayer
It is the relief claimed by the parties which should be clearly mentioned.
More than one relief can be claimed in one cause of action. Following the
prayer signature of the council must be stated.

This acts as the ending of the Memorial. This clearly declares what an
individual be it a petitioner or the defendant actually wants from the Court in
his favor. This is the relief mentioning sentence, and in it the basic motive of
filing the suit is mentioned through reliefs claimed.

The above written memorial must be in well versed English. It does not mean
a typical type of English; by reading one should understand and writing
should contain legal quality. After preparing memorial it is very necessary to
go through the memorial at least 3-4 times and it is necessary to write in a
correct format no grammatical mistakes, otherwise it will not bring out the
true essence of the memorial.

Memorial writing is an art of writing. For writing a proper memorial one has
to be thorough not only with the facts but also with the laws that have to be
applied. It is a tedious task and mooting altogether involves many of such
tedious tasks. This was just about the Memorial writing, but for insights
about various other aspects of Mooting, this revolutionary online course is
second to nothing. If an individual knows the facts very well but does not
know what all laws have to be applied, the facts known will act as null and
void. Before making the memorial or start up with his work one should get
well versed with the particular area of law which is going to be applied
because a single memorial does not contain a single law but a series of laws
from various sources. A proper knowledge as well as patience is needed in
making a good or even the best memorial. A person cannot complete his
memorial in one or two weeks but need a months’ time to draft his memorial