Mooting Comes to Hereford Sixth Form College
Posted on 6th September 2016
Photo credit: http://www.the-art-of-law.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/jhmr.jpg
The new Mooting Society at our College has had its inaugural meeting where a good number of students attended.
However, it is still not too late join as the group will always be open to new members, whether they study Law or not. The meetings are held in A166 on Monday lunchtimes.
If you didn’t know, a moot is a debate in the form of legal arguments. The Society meetings are presented as a court hearing or trial that is set in the Court of Appeal. There is at least one judge, two senior counsels and two junior counsels. There is a senior and a junior counsel for the Appellant side and the Respondent side. We have two weeks to prepare the submission and afterwards you will provide the cases to the Judge to read through for the following week when the arguments are provided.
Very little knowledge of law is required, though it is useful to know the legal principles but don’t let this worry you as you will not be alone on your side of the debate.
The Society has been in communication with leading universities around the country including Cambridge, Oxford and York. The first case the Society will be looking at is a hypothetical case based onRe A (Children) 2001, where conjoined twins joined at the abdomen will die if they are not separated. However the separation will inevitably lead to the death of one of the twins. The parents in the case refused to give permission for the separation to go ahead and therefore the Hospital applied to the High Court for permission to carry out the procedure. The injunction from the High Court was granted. However, the case was appealed by the parents to the Court of Appeal, where the Court dismissed the appeal and agreed with the High Court.
Marcus Hale, Master of Moots
(Studying A Levels in Archaeology, Government & Politics and Law)