Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday (February 21, 2026) said that “law cannot remain a fortress erected to protect society from arbitrariness” and called on the young lawyers to make it a “forum” where differences are debated, rights articulated and power is reasoned with.
CJI Kant, during his address – “From Fortress to Forum: Law in an Unfinished Republic” – at the 18th Convocation of National Law University here, urged the professionals to see law not as a closed citadel but as a living, evolving public space.
The CJI invoked the Mehrangarh Fort as a powerful metaphor for the historical journey of law. “A fortress is built to defend, to guard against disorder and uncertainty. In its earliest conception, law resembled such a structure, erected to protect society from arbitrariness and chaos,” he said.
“But in a constitutional democracy, he said, law cannot remain a fortress alone. It must transform into a forum where differences are debated, rights articulated and power reasoned with,” he added.
CJI Kant reiterated that the shift, from fortress to forum, captures not only the evolution of legal systems but also the responsibility awaiting the graduating class.
