Price Media Law Moot Court Competition

The judges for the 2016 international championship final with European Court of Human Rights judge Boštjan Zupančič presiding; judges in the final typically include lawyers working with the likes of facebook and Microsoft.

The Price Media Law Moot Court Competition or Price Moot in short, is an annual international moot court competition. Described as a competition "for raising the profile of freedom of expression by bringing informed and effective debate and discussion on significant issues of information flows and technology to many parts of the world",^[1] the Price Moot, with around a hundred universities worldwide participating every year since 2013, is the largest moot in the world that focuses on international media law and related human rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of association, and privacy.^[2] The main sources of law engaged include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention on Human Rights, and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.

The moot was created and continues to be organised by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford, and is named after the programme's founding director, Monroe E. Price. The international rounds are held at the University of Oxford, while national and regional rounds were introduced in 2010 and have since taken place in Afghanistan, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, China, Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Northeast Europe, and Southeast Europe. As of the tenth edition of the moot (2017), 130 universities from 52 countries have taken part in the competition.^[3][4] Singapore Management University, which made its debut in 2010, has the best track record in the moot, having reached the finals on five occasions (2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 (winning the 2010, 2016, and 2017 editions)), won Best Memorials thrice (2010, 2016, and 2018), won Best Finals Oralist twice (2017 and 2018), and won Best Oralist once (2017). In addition, Singapore Management University is the only champion school to have won both Best Finals Oralist and Best Oralist (2017).

Under the current rules, each university may send a team comprising up to six members. National and regional round procedures may vary, but in Oxford, each team will compete in between three and four preliminary rounds. The top 16 teams then advance to the knockout rounds, and the final two teams compete in the international championship round following the octo-finals, quarter-finals, and semi-finals. In every round, each team has 45 minutes (rebuttals inclusive) to plead a case. Each team also has to prepare a set of written submissions for applicant and respondent before the oral phase of the competition begins; the scores for the written submissions count toward qualification up till a certain point. With around a hundred teams taking part annually, the Price Moot is the world's largest competition in its field and is considered one of the grand slam or major moots.^[5][6]

Competition records

References