'My Lady' Is The Proper Way To Address A Female Judge —- Fidelis Oditah, SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Fidelis Oditah, QC has once again addressed the issue of how best to address a female Judge. This was brought to the fore at the Maiden Annual Lecture of Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) held on Thursday 28th June 2018. In a lecture delivered by the learned silk, Mr. Fidelis Oditah made it clear that ‘My lord’ is not the proper way of addressing a female Judge, but ‘My Lady’. ”All over the country and at all levels of decision-making, I hear male and female Judges addressed uniformly as “My Lord”. Whilst this is understandable in the case of a male Judge, it is less obvious in the case of a female Judge. ”I am told that the explanation for addressing female Judges as “My Lord” is the 19th-century philosophy as there are no females at the Bar and Bench or for that matter in the legal profession. ”The law, it is said, admits of only the male gender. I am not sure that the premise is correct historically, but it is certainly wrong today to address a female Judge as “My Lord,” he said. According to him, in England, ever since female Judges were first appointed in the middle of the 20th century, they were always addressed in court as “My Lady”. He stated that ‘My Lady’ is the appropriate mode of address for a female Judge whether she sits on the High Court, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court Bench and that unless there are some statutory provisions in Nigeria governing modes of address, I would respectfully suggest that the correct mode of address for a female Judge is ‘My Lady’ and for a mixed bench consisting of male and female Judges “My Lords and My Ladies” or simply “The Court”. He stated further that although some female judges prefer being addressed with ‘My Lord’, the assertion is not right and proper. ”There are occasions when a female Judge had felt that the correct way to address her is “My Lord”. Indeed, a female Judge had told me in open court that she is “My Lord”, and not “My Lady”. ”In England, if one were writing to a female Judge or addressing her outside court, the correct mode of address for a High Court Judge is “Hon Mrs Justice XYZ”, whether married or unmarried. Since 2014, she may also be styled as “Hon Ms Justice XYZ”. ”For the Court of Appeal, it is “Rt Hon Lady Justice XYZ” and for the Supreme Court it is “Lady XYZ”. At the moment, the UK Supreme Court has two female members – Lady Hale and Lady Black. Lady Hale is President of the UK Supreme Court. ”I want to start this conversation so that in due course, the profession can choose how to deal with the correct mode of address of Nigerian female Judges,” he added.]]>