Uganda Law Society abolishes use of My Lord, My Lady, bans bowing to judges

This is his latest attempt to change what he calls the colonial structure of Uganda’s justice system.

The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has announced the abolition of the use of colonial-era honorifics such as “My Lord,” “My Lady”, and “Your Worship” in the country’s courts. The ULS, the professional body for advocates, represents, regulates, and supports the country’s legal profession.

The President of the ULS, Isaac Ssemakadde, signed an executive order abolishing the use of honorifics for its members on Tuesday, coinciding with Saba Saba Day, the East African commemoration of resistance against authoritarian rule.

This is his latest attempt to change what he calls the colonial structure of Uganda’s justice system. It comes eight months into the exile that has forced him to run the affairs of the ULS from abroad.

The order barred lawyers from bowing or performing any other act of “physical subservience” before judicial officers. It also scrapped titles implying “lordship, worship, or feudal superiority” and replaced them with plain forms of address.

Mr Ssemakadde stated that the archaic colonial structure adopted in the country has contributed to the failure of the judicial system. They “elevate judicial officers above citizens who are in reality their employers.”

“The Judiciary is appalling, marked by executive capture, chronic delays, selective justice, prolonged pre-trial detention, judicial corruption, systemic bias towards the powerful and connected, and deliberate unresponsiveness to enforced disappearances, torture, and attacks against lawyers,” the executive order read.

The order mandates that Judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal will be called “Mr Justice” or “Madam Justice”; High Court judges, “Mr Judge” or “Madam Judge”; and magistrates and registrars addressed by office or surname, such as “Magistrate Nakato” or “Registrar Ankunda.”

“The practice of bowing or any other form of physical subservience before judicial officers is henceforth prohibited for all members of the Uganda Law Society.”

“All advocates and litigants appearing before any court or tribunal shall stand upright and speak as free citizens. No member of the Radical New Bar shall enforce or observe rituals that force Ugandans into postures of humiliation as the powerful enjoy comfort and deference,” it declared.

The order prohibits lawyers belonging to the society from bowing or performing any other act of “physical subservience” before judicial officers, describing such rituals as “theatrical props of elitism” that shield the judiciary from accountability to the public it serves.

Mr Ssemakadde has long pushed for the “decolonisation” of Uganda’s legal system, with some of his moves drawing criticism

In 2024, about a month after he was elected ULS president, Mr Ssemakadde removed the Attorney General and the Solicitor General from the Law Society’s leadership council because their automatic seats were remnants of colonial rule.

He described the decision as “a bold and necessary step to restore public confidence in the justice system. He also dismissed allegations of extremism, insisting instead that his methods are “radical but necessary.”

Mr Ssemakadde fled to Rwanda last year after he was sentenced to two years in prison for contempt of court.

Musa Ssekaana, then a judge of the High Court’s Civil Division, sentenced him for making offensive posts between 11 and 22 December 2024, and using the hashtag #SsekaanaMustGo.

The judge deemed his statement “derogatory and scandalous and a threat to judicial officers.”