John B. Cade Library
What is Moot Court?
What is Moot Court?
The adjective moot is originally a legal term going back to the 1500s. It derives from the noun moot in its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students. The noun moot in turn goes back to an Old English word meaning “a meeting, especially one convened for legislative or judicial purposes.” Consequently, a moot question is one that is arguable or open to debate. But in the mid-19th century people also began to look at the hypothetical side of moot as its essential meaning, and they started to use the word to mean “of no significance or relevance.” Thus a moot point, however debatable, is one that has no practical value. A number of critics have objected to this usage, but in our 1988 survey 59 percent of the Usage Panel accepted it in the sentence The nominee himself chastised the White House for failing to do more to support him, but his concerns became moot when a number of Republicans announced that they, too, would oppose the nomination. Writers who use this word should be sure that the context makes clear which sense of moot is meant. It is often easier to use another word, such as debatable or irrelevant.
The verb moot means “to bring forward a point, topic, or question for consideration or discussion,” as in an idea that was mooted before the committee. Moot is also used in law, where it means “to render a question moot.” It can also refer to arguing a case in a moot court, the mock court where hypothetical cases are tried for the training of law students.
Moot court is a simulated oral argument, similar to an argument made before an appellate court. The argument lasts around fifteen minutes, during which time the attorney presents an argument and answers questions posed by the panel of judges. It is not a trial: there are no witnesses and no evidence. The arguments are evaluated on the application of the law to the facts of the case.
Moot. (2005). In The American Heritage guide to contemporary usage and style. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Retrieved from https://subr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://literati.credoreference.com/content/entry/hmcontempusage/moot/0