Much of the art of advocacy is literature: Justice Rajiv Shakdher

Delhi High Court judge Justice Rajiv Shakdher on Saturday waxed eloquent on the intersections of law and literature..Citing the examples of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, The Mahabharata and theatrical veteran jurists, he highlighted how literary works are evoked in judicial fora."Much of the art of advocacy is literature. Judges and lawyers have taken recourse to literature to explain legal complexities...Law has to be seasoned with justice and mercy. If they do not meet there will not be a satisfactory answer," he said..Justice Shakdher was speaking during the inaugural session of the 2024 Vidhi Utsav, a legal literature festival organised by OakBridge Publishing.Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) President Dr Lalit Bhasin and OakBridge Publishings' co-founder Shreesh Chandra were also present on the occasion..Justice Shakdher began his address by quoting the late Nani Palkhivala, who said that to become a good laywer, one should read everything but law."It is important to read history etc. He (Palkhivala) used to stammer, but became one of the greatest lawyers India has ever produced. Few can replicate him. He was a student of and taught literature and dealt with that part of his life in court. He mesmerised judges who would actually eat from his hands when he argued. Kesavananda Bharati was among his best performances, along with when it was sought to be revisited."He discussed how Portia (in The Merchant of Venice) managed to convince the judge that Shylock should be punished for harsh loan default terms."Portia walked into the courtroom disguised as a man and made a speech which you must read. It has a feminist perspective, it has shades of artful advocacy. She says you may have a pound of flesh but no more and not a pound of blood. Several things emanate from it, which laywers must remember. The plain text of a statute matters; you must be careful how you put it there. So Shylock could not enforce the bond."A good laywer in any situation can drivel past the uncanny, Justice Shakdher underscored.He touched on how the death penalty was discussed in Hindu epics, giving the example of how Draupadi did not wish for capital punishment for Ashwathama.He also cited a judgment of his that began with a couplet of Mirza Ghalib..The session began with one of the last recorded video messages of the late Fali S Nariman.Chandra teared up when he spoke of how Nariman had always backed the idea of such a literature festival.Dr.Bhasin in his concluding remarks stated that India has laws, but not justice. "Our Preamble says justice secured has to be economic, political and social. But do we have it? My opinion after 60 years in the profession is that we have law, but not justice. We have over 5 crore pending cases, the main factor being that the British system was imposed on us, as opposed to the consensual form that we had since the ancient system that is panchayat zila systems."Dr Bhasin emphasised that the law must be tempered with justice, and that law students should broaden their horizons by reading English and Indian literature."With CSR there must be PSR (Professional Social Responsibility) too...No laywer is complete without understanding ground realities reflected in the current literature of any country. So do not limit yourselves to just law books," he said..[Follow our live-coverage of the event]