DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW

MOOT COURT COMMITTEE

CONCOURS, 2024

For First Year Students Only

RULES AND FORMAT

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PRELIMINARY 3

2. REGISTRATION 3

3. CLARIFICATIONS 3

4. MEMORIAL 4

6. ORAL ROUNDS AND RESEARCHERS’ TEST 6

7. STRUCTURE OF THE ORAL ROUNDS 7

7.1. Preliminary Rounds 7

7.2.The Quarter Finals 9

7.3. Semi Rounds Final 9

7.4. Final Round 9

8. EVALUATION OF THE ORAL ROUNDS 10

9. RANKING 10

10. MISCELLANEOUS 11

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1. PRELIMINARY

1.1 This event may be called ‘Concours, 2024’.

1.2 This exercise extends only to first year students pursuing the five year B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from
RMLNLU, Lucknow.

1.3 The Moot Court Committee reserves the right to nominate moots for the following competition
which it deems fit.

2. REGISTRATION

2.1 Each participant shall register with the MCC.

2.2 Students eligible and willing to participate in the Competition may opt to participate as:

a) A Researcher; b) A Speaker; or c) Both

The willingness of the Participant to participate as a Speaker or a Researcher must be indicated

during the Initial Registration itself.

The student must confirm their participation by registering through MCC’s website latest by
December 25, 2023 (Monday) by 11:59 PM. Please find the form attached under the head
“Concours 2024 Registration” (https://rmlnlumcc.com/).

3. CLARIFICATIONS

Participants may request clarifications to the moot proposition via an email to

mccconcours@gmail.com latest by December 17, 2023 (Sunday) by 11:59 PM.

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4. MEMORIAL

4.1 Each Participant is required to prepare a Memorial for both the sides.

4.2 The Memorials shall consist of the following mandatory heads:

a) Cover Page

b) Table of Contents

c) List of Abbreviations

d) Index of Authorities (with page numbers)

e) Statement of Jurisdiction

f) Statement of Facts (not exceeding 2 Pages)

g) Issues Raised (not exceeding 1 page)

h) Summary of Arguments (not exceeding 2 pages)

i) Arguments Advanced (not exceeding 15 pages)

j) Prayer

4.3. Each memorial shall have the following and ONLY the following on its cover page:

a. The Participant Code on the upper right-hand corner of the cover page

b. The name and place of the forum

c. The relevant legal provision under which it is filed

d. Name of parties and their status

e. On whose behalf the Memorial has been filed

4.4 The Memorial shall be typed on A4-sized paper, with the following mandatory formatting
specifications:

a. Font Type: Times New Roman

b. Font Size: 12

c. Line Spacing: 1.5 line Spacing

d. Margins: 1 inch on each side.

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4.5 For Footnotes, the formatting specifications are:

a. Font type: Times New Roman

b. Font Size: 10

c. Single Spacing

The Participant must cite authorities in the Memorials using footnotes following the 20th Edition
of Harvard Bluebook.

One (1) soft copy must be e-mailed to mccconcours@gmail.com in MS Word format as well as in
PDF latest by 11:59 PM on December 31, 2023 (Sunday) with the following in the subject:
‘Memorials for the Participant Code _.’ The file name of electronic copies must contain only the
Participant code and the first alphabet of the side for which the memo is submitted . Thus, if the
Participant Code is 13, the Petitioner memo must be represented as ‘13P’ and the Respondent memo
must be represented as ‘13R’.

4.6 The memorial for each side should be submitted as one file only and not in various files. Any
violation of this rule will attract a penalty.

4.7 The cover page of the Petitioner Memorial shall be printed on BLUE paper whereas that of the
Respondent Memorial shall be printed on RED paper.

4.8 The Memorials shall not contain any annexure, photographs, graphs, diagrams or any other
representation of like nature.

4.9 Footnotes should be limited to only citations or any other information relevant to the arguments.
In no event shall footnotes contain extra or irrelevant information, and in no case shall footnotes
contain arguments.

4.10 Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited. Any memorial found to be violating this rule would
not be evaluated.

4.11 Two (2) hard copies for each side of the memorial must be submitted to the organizers on
January 3, 2024 (Tuesday) in the MCC room, i.e., F-13 of the Academic Block.

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4.12 The hard copies must be identical to the soft copy. Any violation of this rule will entail a
penalty.

5. PENALTIES

Late submission of Memorials 1 mark per memorial per

12 hours; disqualification
beyond 24 hours.
Exceeding Page Limit as prescribed in Rule 4.2 1 mark per exceeding
Page
Failure to use correct Font type 1 mark per page
Failure to use correct Font size 1 mark per page
Failure to use correct Line Spacing 1 mark per page
Failure to use correct page margin 1 mark per page
Failure to comply with footnote specification in Rule 0.25 mark per footnote
4.5
Failure to comply with document name specific Rule in 1 mark per file
4.5

Failure to comply with Rule 4.2 1 mark per omission

Failure to submit memorial as a single file as per Rule 1 mark per memorial
4.6
Failure to comply with color scheme as per Rule 4.7 1 mark per memorial
Failure to submit identical hard copies and soft copies 2 marks per memorial
Failure to use correct Citations and comply with the 0.25 mark per citation
20th Edition of the Harvard Bluebook

Failure to submit memorial with correct file name 1 mark per memorial

There shall be a penalty cap of 15 marks.

6. ORAL ROUNDS AND RESEARCHERS’ TEST

6.1 The Participants desirous of contending as a ‘Researcher’ would be required to appear for a
written test which would be aimed at testing the basic understanding of the Moot Proposition. The
Researchers’ Test shall be conducted on January 4, 2024 (Thursday). The test shall be of 50
marks.

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6.2 Participants desirous of contending as a ‘Speaker’ must appear for the Preliminary Oral Rounds
of arguments once as Petitioner and once as a Respondent on 6-7 January, 2024 (Saturday and
Sunday). The participants would be adjudicated by a bench of two (2) or more judges wherein,
they would be judged individually.

6.3 All Speakers shall get a speaking time of 15 minutes inclusive of rebuttals which shall not be less
than 2 minutes and more than 5 minutes.

6.4 The dress code for the Intra Rounds would be that prescribed for advocates in the Bar Council
of India Rules under The Advocates Act, 1961.

6.5 Any Participant found to be in violation of any of the Rules with respect to the Oral Rounds
may be penalized. The decision of the Judges/ MCC shall be final in this regard.

6.6 Based on their performance in the Preliminary Oral Round, the Participants shall qualify for the
Quarter Final, Semi- Final and subsequently, to the Final Rounds. A fresh Draw of Lots shall
be conducted before the commencement of each of the subsequent rounds after the preliminary
oral round to determine which side the Participant would represent.

6.7 No use of any electronic devices, like Laptops, LCD Projectors, video camera etc. is permitted.

6.8 Scouting is strictly prohibited and shall result in immediate disqualification.

6.9 The Judge’s decision in this regard shall be final and binding.

7. STRUCTURE OF THE ORAL ROUNDS

7.1 Preliminary Rounds

7.1.1. The Oral Rounds of the Competition shall be held over a period of two days.

7.1.2. In the preliminary rounds, each participant shall have to argue twice, once as the Petitioner and
once as the Respondent.

7.1.3. The participant shall be paired on the basis of the Preliminary Seeding Chart. The Preliminary

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Seeding Chart shall be prepared according to the rank secured by the individuals on the basis
of their Total Memorial Score. The individuals will be ranked on the basis of the Total
Memorial Score (calculated out of 200).

7.1.4. These rounds shall be jumbled and divided into sessions.

7.1.5. No two participants will argue against each other more than once in the Preliminary
Rounds.

7.1.6. For the Preliminary Rounds, the winner of each such round shall be determined on the basis of
the criteria of evaluation of the speaker scores, as mentioned in the Rule 7.1.8 stated below.

7.1.7. Each preliminary round matchup will be judged by two (2) orals judges, each of whom shall
mark every speaker on a score of 0-100. The participant withthe higher total marks on a
particular judge’s score-sheet will be the winner on that judge’s score sheet.

7.1.8. Each preliminary round will be decided on the basis of cumulative marks of orals as well as
the memorial. The weightage of the marks will be in the ratio of 7:3. This will imply that
70% of the total oral score will be considered along with 30% of the memo score, the
cumulative of which will give the finalscore of a speaker for each round.

For Example- In a round between Participant A and Participant B, Panelist 1 gives a cumulative
Oral score of 75 marks to Participant A and 65 marks to Participant B. Panelist 2 gives a cumulative
oral score of 72 marks to Participant A and 63 to Participant B. The cumulative memo score of
Participant A is 150 and of Participant B is 132.

PARTICIPANT A: 70% OF (75 +72= 147) + 30% OF 150 = 147.9 [FINAL SCORE]

PARTICIPANT B: 70% OF (65+ 63) + 30% OF 140 = 131.6 [ FINAL SCORE]

Here, the final score of Participant A is greater than the final score of Participant B, and hence,
Participant A will win this round.

If two or more Participants have the same final score, then the Participant with higher cumulative
speaker scores shall be ranked higher.

If two or more participants have the same points, then the participant with higher speaker scores
shall be ranked higher. If two or more participants have the same points and same.

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7.2 The Quarter Finals

7.2.1. The highest ranked eight (8) participants from the Preliminary Rounds, as determined by the
Rules 7.1.1 – 7.1.7 stated above, shall qualify for the Quarter Final Rounds.

7.2.2. The eight (8) participants that proceed to the Quarter Final Rounds shall each argue only
ONCE for the side allotted by a draw of lots. The fixtures for the Quarter Final Rounds shall
be as follows:

Rank 1 v. Rank 8 (Quarter Final Round I)

Rank 2 v. Rank 7 (Quarter Final Round II)

Rank 3 v. Rank 6 (Quarter Final Round III)

Rank 4 v. Rank 5 (Quarter Final Round IV)

7.2.3. The winners of the Quarter Final Rounds shall be determined on a round point basis wherein
one (1) point shall be awarded by each judge to the participant that won the round according
to that judge. The bench-strength for the Quarter-Final Rounds shall be an odd number but not
one (1).

7.3 Semi Rounds Final

7.3.1. The four (4) participants that proceed to the Semi Final Rounds, as determined by the Rule
7.2.3 stated above, shall each argue only ONCE for the side allotted by a draw of lots. The
fixtures for the Semi Final Rounds shall be as follows:

Rank 1 v. Rank 4 (Semi Final Round I)

Rank 2 v. Rank 3 (Semi Final Round II)

7.3.2. The winners of the Semi-Final Rounds shall be determined on a round point basis wherein one
(1) point shall be awarded by each judge to the participant that won the round according to
that judge. The bench-strength for the Semi- Final Rounds shall be an odd number but not one
(1).

7.4 Final Round

7.4.1. The two (2) participants that proceed to the Final Round, as determined by the Rule 7.3.2

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stated above, shall each argue only ONCE for the side allotted by a draw of lots.

7.4.2. The participant which wins the Final Round shall be declared as the ‘Winning Participant’.
The other participant shall be declared as the ‘Runner-up Participant’.

7.4.3. The winner of the Final Round shall be determined on a round point basis wherein one (1)
point shall be awarded by each judge to the participant that won the round according to that
judge. The bench-strength for the Final round shall be an odd number but not one (1).

8. EVALUATION OF THE ORAL ROUNDS

8.1 The Oral Rounds shall be evaluated out of a total score of 200 for each round. Evaluation shall be
done based on the following criteria:

a) Knowledge and Use of Law and Authorities: 20 Marks

b) Application of Law to Facts: 20 Marks

c) Ingenuity & Ability to Answer Questions: 20 Marks

d) Time Management and Organization: 20 Marks

e) Style, Courtesy and Demeanor: 10 Marks

f) Effective Rebuttals: 10 Marks

9. RANKING

9.1 Researchers shall be ranked on the basis of a list prepared, taking into account the Researchers’
Test marks and the Total Memorial scores obtained by the participants.

9.2 The Speakers shall be ranked on the basis of a list prepared, taking into account the sum of the
marks of the Preliminary oral rounds. (The participants who have registered themselves as
“Speakers” need to participate in both the preliminary rounds in order to be considered in the final
rank list).

9.3 Accordingly, a ‘Merit Based System’ would be adopted wherein; the top rankers of both the Lists
shall be grouped accordingly so as to form the participants which shall represent the University
in Various Moot Court Competitions. Participants objecting to such mandatory composition as

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prescribed by the MCC shall forfeit the right to qualify as a participant representing the
University.

9.4 The Qualifying participants shall be allotted a Moot Court Competition based on the rank secured
and availability of the position. This would be subject to the discretion of the MCC.

9.5 It is the responsibility of the participants to enquire about all the aspects of the Moot Court
Competition so allotted. Any excuse of ignorance about the Moot Court Competition or the
financial viability would not be entertained under any circumstances.

10. MISCELLANEOUS

10.1 The MCC reserves the right to amend, alter, vary or change, in any manner whatsoever, the
Rules governing the Competition, which would be communicated to the participants within a
reasonable period of time.

10.2 Participants who register with the MCC but do not turn up for the event shall be penalized
accordingly.

10.3 In case of any dispute not covered by the above-mentioned rules, MCC shall be the final
arbiter.

10.4 The Chairperson of the MCC of RMLNLU is the highest authority that can be approached as
regards dispute resolution in case the participant is not satisfied with the MCC’s decision. The
Chairperson must be approached only in the rarest of rare cases and any such decision made by
him/her on any issue/dispute arising in relation to the Competition shall be final and binding on all
concerned.

10.5 In case of any dispute not covered by the above-mentioned rules, MCC shall be the final
arbiter.

10.6 All communications made to the MCC shall be on the same thread of the mail requesting for
registration of the participant. Messages or requests or submissions from any other thread would
not be entertained.

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For any further details, send an e-mail to – mccconcours@gmail.com.

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