New Delhi, Oct 4:
The role of compassion and human understanding in judicial decision-making will take centre stage at the second N. R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture, to be held at the Dr. Ambedkar International Centre here on Monday.
The Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), in association with the centre, is organising the programme at Bhim Hall at 5 p.m., according to a press note issued by the association.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant is scheduled to inaugurate the event. Supreme Court judge Justice Vikram Nath, who is also Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority, will deliver the memorial lecture.
The lecture will explore how legal rules relate to the human experiences underlying disputes brought before courts, with a focus on compassion in the practice of law and administration of justice.
Two books will also be launched during the programme. “Law and Context in Economics”, by S. Sivakumar and Sougata Talukdar, examines legal questions within economic and institutional settings. It carries a foreword by Supreme Court judge Justice P. S. Narasimha.
“Indian Personal Laws”, authored by Sivakumar, addresses personal laws, family law, legal pluralism and their relationship with the constitutional framework. Justice B. V. Nagarathna has written its foreword.
The lecture honours Menon, who pioneered the five-year integrated law programme and played a pivotal role in establishing the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.
He also served as founding Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata, and Director of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal.
The inaugural memorial lecture, held on September 17, 2025, focused on legal and justice education ahead of India’s independence centenary in 2047.
Organisers expect members of the judiciary, legal academics, practitioners and students to attend. The series seeks to carry forward Menon’s contribution to legal education through discussion of justice issues.
