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Article 6

Seven Lamps of Advocacy

Introduction

You may have heard the phrase “ASATO MA SADGAMAYA TOMASO MA

JYOTIRGAMAYA“. What does this mean? It means to take a person from untruth to truth and to lead
from darkness to light. When a client comes to the chamber of an advocate, expect to take his case
from the darkness to light and untruth to truth. But to take a case from darkness to light, an advocate
must be aware of the seven lamps of advocacy.

Seven lamps of advocacy are a very interesting topic of professional ethics. The rights of
an advocate under the Advocates Act 1961 also help a lawyer to use these lamps of advocacy in his
profession.

History of seven lamps of advocacy

It was Judge Edward Abbott Parry who brought the theory into
existence. He gave the seven lamps of advocacy. After that, the 8th lamps of advocacy were added
by justice V Krishnaswamy Aiyar in his legal book of “professional conduct and advocacy”. He named
8th lamp of advocacy TACT.

Seven lamps of advocacy

 Honesty

 Courage

 Industry

 Wit

 Eloquence

 Judgement

 Fellowship

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The qualities given under the seven lamps of advocacy are the best and
essential qualities of an advocate which must be followed by an advocate to succeed in his legal
profession while practicing in the court anywhere. Let’s know about each and every lamp of advocacy.

Honesty

Honesty in a profession is the official policy that should be used by every person while
interacting with another person. Honesty should reflect in the thoughts, words and behaviour of an
advocate. It is honesty that increases the personal and professional reputation of the person in a
society. The reputation of an advocate is the thing that includes his fame and trust with his clients and
bar.

An advocate is expected to be honest while dealing with the case and making
arguments and producing oral and documentary evidence in the court of law. The judge decides the
case on the basis of the submission and arguments done by an advocate on the behalf of his client. If
wrong fact represented by an advocate can punish an innocent person. An advocate should be:

Honest with his client

 He must tell his client about the position of the case every time.

 An advocate must tell about the merits of the case

 He must tell about the demerits of the case or any consequences which can lead to the loss of
his client.

 If an advocate is going to lose the case in court, he should talk about this.

Honest with opposition

An advocate should be honest even with his opposition party. He should not
give any false facts to take the case in the opposite direction.

Deceiving a person in a case should not be the purpose of an advocate.

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Honest to law

The person who is filing the case in the court is here to take justice, not to check the talent of an
advocate. Honest with the law means an advocate should give the truthful fact in front of the judge,
not any false statements. Telling the truth in front of the judge is the best practice for honesty.

Courage

Courage is one of the important factors in seven lamps of advocacy. Courage means the ability
to stand in front of the court without any fear. An advocate should feel proud and confident while
arguing in a case. It builds the ability of an advocate to convince the judge that his true and honest facts
represent on the behalf of his client.

A lawyer faces many problems while dealing with civil litigation or criminal litigation. He should
have the courage to stand in that case and remove these problems fearlessly. He should have been
ready to fight all the problems and social evils. Advocates can use courage as their weapon, but for that,
they must have a deep knowledge of the law.

Not all cases are easy for dealing with, an advocate can get the case related to murder, marital
rape, abatement, Child labour etc. He should have the courage to take every kind of case.

Industry

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse. He must have the knowledge of the law for
which he is dealing in a case. We all know that the law is like an ocean; no one can be the master of law.
But an advocate should know about the law used in the case in which he is dealing for.

Advocates should have knowledge, attitude and skill while dealing with the case. To get
the knowledge of the law and understand the law he should have given sufficient time for that.

No advocate can win the case without sufficient knowledge of the law. He must have
given the time for the case so that he could deal perfectly with that case and increase his chance to win
the case. Our law is not static, it keeps changing with the need of society every time to solve the various
new problems of the society. An advocate should update himself with these new laws. Even if a lawyer
was good enough to deal with all the cases in the previous time, and now he does not stay up to date

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with new laws, he will face difficulties while dealing with the case in the present time. There is no way
other than hard work.

Hard work always pays.

Wit

Being a professional lawyer in the field of law, a lawyer should have wit and a sense of
humour. It is the humour that keeps us calm and active. A person without a sense of humour will fight
the case with anger which isn’t good for providing justice. Judges also like the advocates and witnesses
which help them to provide justice in a case.

The wit is a necessary lamp to lighten the darkness of advocacy. A wit helps the
advocates to stay focused on his work and reduce the workload so that he can remain relaxed. It
automatically removes the mental strain of an advocate so that he can think beyond the limits of his
mind.

A well-prepared speech by an advocate in front of the Judge will not always work. An
advocate has to answer the questions of a Judge and that question will check the wit and presence of
mind of a lawyer. The questions asked by judges check the intelligence and knowledge of advocates
related to the case.

It happens many times that an advocate forgets to produce something in the court or
fails to answer some questions in the court. At that time, it is the wit of an advocate which helps him to
fill that gap.

Eloquence

The lamp of eloquence is the art of speaking. Every advocate delivers his argument in
front of the judge. But eloquence is the way to give the arguments in a way that holds a long-lasting
effect on the judge as well as the clients and listeners in the courtroom.

Eloquence is an oral art that is used by an advocate for fluent and skilful use of
communication which touches the soul of a judge.

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An advocate who has a good knowledge of advocacy can use the eloquence language
for fluent speaking. There are some important points related to eloquence as follow:

 An advocate should be a skilled speaker

 He should stay confident while giving the speech in front of the judge

 He should be fluent while giving this speech.

 The language used by an advocate should be error-free

 He should have the ability to pause himself at the right moment

 This speech given by an advocate should be effective, not dramatic.

 He should give this speech in a way that leaves an impression on the judge.

 The language should be used in a way that should help the judge while writing

his judgment.

 The language should influence people towards the point of discussion.

 Use of the right law phrase and law maxim.

An advocate can use the power of eloquence by:

 noticing the faults made by the opposite party

 Presence of mind in the case

 Knowledge and practice

 By setting the relation between arguments and justification

The skill to develop the equivalence in Hindi speech needs more and more knowledge.

Judgment

The lamp of judgment means the deep study of the present case and then makes an
informed opinion for that case. An advocate should think from two sides of the case because it will help

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him to understand the consequences of the case. By understanding the case from both sides the
advocates knows the merits and demerits of that case. It helps him to anticipate the problems and
tackle the same with his other lamps of advocacy.

A good advocate knows what will be the consequences after representing a witness in
court. He should be aware of what questions can be asked by the judges and the opposite party after
the witness. And he should be ready to counter these arguments and questions from the opposite party
and judges of the case as well.

Fellowship

Fellowship is one of the most important lamps of advocacy. An advocate must carry
fellowship with his colleagues. When an advocate takes the case and argues, he argues against an
opposite advocate. But it does not make them opposite to each other; they are just making arguments
for the sake of justice only.

After finishing the argument in the court hall, the advocate should respect his opposite
advocate. Even while doing an argument in court; an advocate should respect his opposite lawyer as
well. The reason is, it is not the fight between both of them but it is the fight for justice only.

After the judgment of the caught in a case, even if an advocate lost the case, he should
respect the advocate who wins the case. If an advocate starts fighting with each and every advocate
who is opposing him in the case, he will make all the advocates his enemy which is not professional
ethics.

A case must not bother his friendly relationship with other advocates. An advocate
should while referring to the opposite advocate use the term as a learned friend or learned counsel.

Advocates should also use the lamp of fellowship for judges also. It is the arguments of an advocate
which leads his case. The advocate should respect the judge even if he gave the opposite decision. An
advocate should refer to a judge as:

 Learned Judge or Your Honour

 High court- your lordship or my lord

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These are the terms that show respect towards the other advocates and judges. It builds
a friendship with another colleague.

8th lamp of advocacy

TACT is the 8th lamp of advocacy. An Indian lawyer and former judge of Madras
High Court “V Krishnaswamy Iyer” has written the TEACT in his book of PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT AND
ADVOCACY as the 8th lamp of advocacy.

Sometimes it happens that the courtroom becomes a mess due to the heavy and serious
arguments by advocates. In those circumstances, advocates should know how to tackle the
situation. An advocate should know how to:

 control his client in that situation

 Control over the opponent advocate in the case.

 Persuade the judge

An advocate should use a great technique that will be able to control the messy
situation in the courtroom.

Conclusion

Advocates should keep burning these seven lamps of advocacy. Advocacy is not a way to
make money but it is the profession that helps the person to provide justice.

Advocacy is a profession and duty of an advocate towards society. Every lawyer is

expected to deal with the case by using these seven lamps of advocacy. An honest advocate builds a
strong bond with his clients and colleagues. Every lamp of advocacy has its own benefits which make the
advocate confident and strong to deal with the case.

The seven lamps of advocacy are the qualities of a successful lawyer. If you are going to
practice in court, you must obey the seven lamps of advocacy.

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