THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A southern Indian state will allow lawyers to drop “My Lord” when speaking to judges in a bid to end colonial-era language, a lawyers group in the state said on Thursday.

Santhosh Kumar, secretary of communist-ruled Kerala's High Court Bar Association, said the move would become effective on Saturday and follows a decision by the Bar Council of India last year to stop using the term at the federal Supreme Court.

“We have decided to shed away the colonial tradition... instead we have decided to say 'your honour' and 'this honourable court',” said Kumar.

“It's difficult for many old lawyers to address the jury in a new way. But we requested all to practice our new direction,” he said.

India adopted its judicial system from the British when the country was one of its colonies.

Since it gained its independence in 1947 lawyers have continued to use the British custom and still wear English-style black clothes and white shirts with high stay collars.

Some lawyers believe such sartorial traditions are similarly outdated.

“These colonial relics should have been abandoned a long time ago. It's high time the lawyers in India should end the colonial dress code,” R.

Jayashankar, general secretary of the Indian Association of Lawyers in Kerala said.-—AFP