Sample Moot Court Memorial Format

One of the main tasks of the moot court competition is formatting the memorial. People often use the wrong formatting style, leading to a low memorial score and, eventually, law team marks. This is why there is a specific award for Best Memorial.

Before going into depth about the formatting style, we must understand the structure of the memorial, i.e., the content.

The memorial must begin with a Cover page, followed by a Table of contents, List of abbreviations, Index of authorities, Statement of jurisdiction, Statement of facts, Questions Presented, Summary of arguments, Arguments advanced and Prayer.

COVER PAGE:

1. The cover page contains the name of the competition, i.e.,

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The 2024 XYZ National Moot Court Competition

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2. Secondly, it must mention the name of the court before which the parties are appearing with the jurisdiction of the parties, i.e.

Before

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of XYZ

under Article 32 of the Constitution of XYZ, 1950.

3. The name of the parties must be mentioned there (mention number of the appeal/petition, if available), i.e.

Writ Petition No. 00/2024

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In the matter of

Mrs. ABC                                                                                               …PETITIONERS

V.

Mr.  CDE                                                                                                …RESPONDENT

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4. For whom are you submitting that memorial, i.e.

Memorial for the Petitioner

-Petitioner-

5. Mention your Code and other details if necessary.

TABLE OF CONTENT:

Table of Contents lists the contents of the Memorial, i.e.

List of Abbreviations. iii

Index of Authorities. iv

Statement of Jurisdiction  vii

Table of abbreviations 

It will list all the abbreviations (short forms) that you have used in your memorial, including the footnotes, i.e.

Abbreviation	Full Form
Art.	Article
§	Section
¶	Paragraph
v.	Versus

Index of Authorities 

Index of Authorities is the bibliography of the memorial. It lists all the statutes, cases, treatises (books), journal articles, reports, and other materials that have been used as authorities in the memorial, i.e.

Cases:

A S Krishnan v. State of Kerala, 2005 SCC (Cr) 612……………………………………………. 1

Statutes:

Constitution of India, 1950, art 22(1)……………………………………………………………….. 12

Treatises:

D. D. Basu, Commentary on the Constitution of India, D. D. Basu (Calcutta, S. C. Sarkar & Sons, 13th Edition, Vol. I, 1955)…………………………………………………….. 12

STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION 

It is a declaration of the court’s jurisdiction in which the petitioners have brought their case. It helps to ensure that it is accurate and crucial for the case’s sustainability, i.e.

Respondent humbly submits this memorandum in response to the Writ Petition filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Baraat under Article 32 of the Constitution of Baraat, 1950.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Write the facts of the moot proposition in your language by including the essential facts. The facts of the proposition change depending on the parties.

QUESTION PRESENTED

The questions/issues are already mentioned in the moot proposition; copy-paste the questions.

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS 

Briefly write a summary of your arguments.

ARGUMENTS ADVANCED

Arguments Advance are the detailed descriptions of each issue. It must explain and support the issue by referring to cases, studies, reports, etc.

The structure is fundamental when writing pleadings. It is divided into two parts: the external and internal structures.

External Structure

1. Division of Headings: Main argument followed by ingredients of the argument.
2. Content of Headings: Plain Assertions in your favour (Primary Argument+ Alternate/In Any Case)
3. Roadmap, i.e.

1. MAIN HEADING
      1.1 Content of the primary heading
            1.1.1 Subheading of (1.1)

Internal Structure

C- Conclusion: Heading

L- Law: ONLY relevant law [statute, cases]; don’t ignore the procedural laws.

F- Fact: ONLY relevant facts. Make the division with law apparent. Mention any reasonable inference from facts.

A- Analysis: Application of law to facts

C(R)- Conclusion (Reasoned): Assertion+ Legal Reason

PRAYER 

Prayer is the most crucial part of the memorial. It tells the parties’ interest in what they want to seek from the court and what they want the decision to be. i.e,

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In light of the preceding submissions, RESPONDENT respectfully requests the Hon’ble Court  to find that:

1. Write your pleadings –

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Respectfully signed and submitted by counsel on 11^th September 2024,

On behalf of the Counsel for Respondent.

GENERAL RULES

1. Always adhere to the prescribed fort, size and line spacing.
2. Don’t exceed the word limit.
3. Citation as per the guidelines and uniformity in the citation.
4. Neat and clean memorial.

For more details on upcoming moot court competitions, visit our Moots page.