Day-16 Answer Writing Challenge : Model Answer

Question: What is the practice of forum shopping? (8 marks, 120 words)

Answer: 

Introduction:

• Forum shopping is the practice when litigants or lawyers attempt to deliberately move their case to a particular judge or Court where they think the judgment could be more favourable.

Body:

Websters’s dictionary defines forum shopping as –

• “practice of choosing the court in which to bring an action from among those courts that could properly exercise jurisdiction based on a determination of which court is likely to provide the most favourable outcome.”
• Lawyers think about which is the right forum to approach as part of their litigation strategy.
• For example, one could directly approach the Supreme Court via a public interest litigation case instead of the concerned High Court because the issue could get more eyeballs.

• Justice dispensation is crucial to keep the trust of the citizens in judiciary intact, hence practices like forum shopping which lean the system in the favour of few must be dealt with strongly, once and for all.