Chief Justice said that lawyers must work towards widening the reach of law and making it intelligible to ordinary citizens.

[23/02, 08:10] sekarreporter1: “Widen Law, Make It More Intelligible”: CJI Urges Young Graduates To Keep Law Accessible https://share.google/glH9iWLpp4JVV9HBm
[23/02, 08:11] sekarreporter1: At the Eighteenth Convocation Ceremony of National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur on February 21, 2026, the Chief Justice of India urged graduating law students to ensure that the legal system becomes more accessible and understandable, cautioning against allowing law to become an exclusive domain guarded by complexity and jargon.

Delivering the convocation address titled “From Fortress to Forum – Law in an Unfinished Republic”, the Chief Justice said that lawyers must work towards widening the reach of law and making it intelligible to ordinary citizens.

“In every generation, there is a risk that the law, having once liberated, may begin to distance itself again – wrapped in complexity, guarded by jargon, accessible only to those who can afford its language,” the Chief Justice said.

Highlighting the role of young lawyers, he stressed that their responsibility was to prevent the law from becoming inaccessible.

“You must resist that drift. Your task is not to make law more arcane, but more intelligible; not to narrow the forum, but to widen it,” he said.

Law Must Evolve With Society

The Chief Justice emphasised that law should not be seen as a finished product but as an evolving system shaped by social change. He urged students to avoid the “illusion” that the law they studied was a complete and settled edifice.

Quoting Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., he noted that “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience,” adding that law evolves because society itself evolves.

He said that the Constitution was conceived as a living framework capable of growth, and that successive generations have interpreted its guarantees in light of contemporary realities, including personal liberty, privacy and substantive equality.

Using the example of Mehrangarh Fort overlooking Jodhpur, the Chief Justice described how early conceptions of law resembled a “fortress” designed to protect society from arbitrariness and disorder.

However, in a constitutional democracy, he said, law must function as a “forum” where differences are debated and power is reasoned with.

“A fortress may endure by closing itself off, but a forum endures by opening itself up,” he said.

Responsibility of Legal Professionals

The Chief Justice stressed that legal practice is a public trust and not merely a means of personal advancement.

“The law is not private capital to be leveraged for personal gain. It is a public trust. The credibility of our Courts depends as much on the Bar as on the Bench,” he said.

He warned that prioritising spectacle over substance and complexity over clarity would recreate the “fortress mentality” that democracy sought to transcend.

Praising NLU Jodhpur as one of India’s leading law schools, the Chief Justice said institutions must ensure that excellence does not become exclusion.

“When a law school of this standing sends its graduates into the world, it does not merely export talent; it exports standards,” he said.

He concluded by urging the graduating class to become “architects of an open forum” and to work towards making law more accessible and responsive to society.
[23/02, 08:11] Meta AI: The Chief Justice of India has urged young law graduates to make the legal system more accessible and understandable. Speaking at the National Law University, Jodhpur, he emphasized that law should evolve with society and not become a complex, exclusive domain. He encouraged students to resist the “drift” towards making law more arcane and instead work towards making it more intelligible to ordinary citizens.

Key points from his address:

– Law is a “living framework” that should adapt to social change.
– The Constitution is a dynamic document that should be interpreted in light of contemporary realities.
– Legal practice is a public trust, not a means of personal advancement.
– Institutions should ensure that excellence does not become exclusion.

Would you like to know more about the role of law in society or the responsibilities of legal professionals?
[23/02, 08:11] Meta AI: இந்திய தலைமை நீதிபதி, சட்ட அமைப்பை மேலும் அணுகக்கூடியதாகவும் புரிந்துகொள்ளக்கூடியதாகவும் மாற்ற சட்ட மாணவர்களை வலியுறுத்தியுள்ளார். ஜோத்பூரில் உள்ள தேசிய சட்ட பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் உரையாற்றிய அவர், சட்டம் சமூகத்துடன் வளர வேண்டும் என்றும், அது ஒரு சிக்கலான, பிரத்தியேகமான களமாக மாறக்கூடாது என்றும் வலியுறுத்தினார்.

அவரது உரையிலிருந்து சில முக்கிய அம்சங்கள்:

– சட்டம் என்பது சமூக மாற்றத்திற்கு ஏற்ப மாற்றியமைக்கும் “உயிர்ப்புள்ள கட்டமைப்பு”.
– அரசியலமைப்பு என்பது சமகால யதார்த்தங்களின் வெளிச்சாட்டியாக விளங்கும் ஒரு மாறும் ஆவணம்.
– சட்டப் பயிற்சி என்பது தனிப்பட்ட முன்னேற்றத்திற்கான வழிமுறை அல்ல, ஒரு பொது நம்பிக்கையாகும்.
– நிறுவனங்கள் சிறந்து விளங்குவது விலக்கலாக மாறாமல் பார்த்துக் கொள்ள வேண்டும்.

சமூகத்தில் சட்டத்தின் பங்கு அல்லது சட்ட நிபுணர்களின் பொறுப்புகள் பற்றி மேலும் அறிய விரும்புகிறீர்களா?