16th Amity International Moot Court Competition 2026 (Paperless) at Amity Law School, Noida [Offline; 8-10 October 2026; Register by 25 September]

Amity Law School, Noida is the law faculty of Amity University Uttar Pradesh, a private university whose sponsoring body is the Ritnand Balved Education Foundation. The school works to the motto 'Second to None' and builds its curriculum around doctrinal clarity, critical thinking and analytical precision across constitutional, commercial and international law.

The Moot Court Society (MCS) at Amity Law School, Noida runs the school's advocacy training. Through its Advocacy and Skill Enhancement Cell it holds masterclasses, workshops and interactive sessions with jurists, practitioners and academics from India and abroad, and prepares members for national and international moot court competitions. AIM 2026 is the sixteenth edition of the Society's flagship international moot.

The theme for 2026 is 'Regulating Artificial Intelligence in International Law: Drones, UAVs and Machines and the Case Concerning State Sponsored Warfare'.

The proposition is styled Federal Republic of Aareldun / The Sovereign Commonwealth of Rorazim and the Case Concerning Ilyrion Basin Hostilities. Both states are UN members and parties to the principal treaties on the use of force and humanitarian law, and both have accepted the Court's compulsory jurisdiction under Article 36(2) of its Statute, with Aareldun's declaration excluding disputes over measures taken in self-defence. The facts turn on Project AIM, an artificial intelligence system built by Aareldun's Strategic Innovations Directorate that combined autonomous aircraft, battlefield analysis, cyber-defence and electronic warfare and could rewrite its own operating rules; on the embedding of two of its modules in a civilian supply-chain platform operating in the disputed basin; on an armed group's sudden leap in capability; on resold reconnaissance drones; and on log entries showing the system reclassifying a functioning hospital's communications relay as a logistics target.

The dispute therefore invites argument on attribution and state responsibility, the law on the use of force and self-defence, due diligence and weapons review obligations, distinction and proportionality in international humanitarian law, and the accountability gap around autonomous and self-modifying systems.

• All recognised law schools, universities and institutions in India or abroad running a minimum three-year LL.B. course are eligible to participate.
• A team shall have no more than three and no fewer than two members. A three-member team designates two members as Speakers and one as Researcher.
• No faculty member, coach or designated observer is permitted to accompany a team.
• Teams must not reveal their identity in any form beyond the Team Code allotted after final registration. Names of participants, nation or college must not appear on or within the memorial, and scouting in any form leads to disqualification.

Teams and institutions first register provisionally through the registration form linked in the brochure. The final registration link and the payment details are then sent to provisionally registered teams on their registered email IDs. The last date for registration is 25 September 2026.

• With accommodation: Rs 8,500 (inclusive of GST)
• Without accommodation: Rs 7,000 (inclusive of GST)
• International teams: USD 75

Each team must prepare a memorial on behalf of the Prosecutor/Applicant and another on behalf of the Defendant/Respondent, and upload both by 23:59 IST on 2 October 2026 through the organisers' submission link. Both the Microsoft Word and the PDF versions must be uploaded for the submission to count. No hard copies of the memorial or of the compendium are to be submitted, and a compendium is optional. Memorials are exchanged online on 7 October 2026.

• Permitted parts only: cover page, table of contents, index of authorities, statement of jurisdiction, questions presented, statement of facts, summary of pleadings, and pleadings including the conclusion or prayer for relief.
• Cover page colours: blue for the Prosecutor/Applicant, red for the Defendant/Respondent. The team code carries a 'P'/'A' or 'D'/'R' suffix in the upper right corner.
• Citation in Bluebook 21st edition style; footnotes only, no endnotes, restricted to the pleadings; Times New Roman 10 with single spacing.
• Main text Times New Roman 12, line spacing 1.5, justified; headings 14; cover page 16.
• Statement of facts no longer than 2 pages; summary of pleadings no longer than 2 pages; pleadings no longer than 30 pages; the whole written submission no longer than 45 pages.
• Plagiarism must not exceed 10 per cent and any use of AI in the memorial is strictly prohibited.
• Memorials are scored out of 100 across knowledge of law and facts, interpretation and application, extent and use of research, clarity and organisation, and adherence to style, grammar and citation, at 20 marks each.

The competition consists of a Researcher Test, the Preliminary Round, the Quarter Finals, the Semi Finals and the Final. Sides are decided by a draw of lots, and the Researcher Test is held on the first day, 8 October 2026.

• Preliminary Round (8 October): a single round of 50 minutes of oral pleadings including rebuttals, 25 minutes per side, up to 5 minutes reserved for rebuttal or sur-rebuttal, no more than 15 minutes to either speaker.
• Quarter Finals: 50 minutes, 25 minutes per side, no more than 15 minutes to either speaker.
• Semi Finals: 80 minutes, 40 minutes per side, no more than 25 minutes to either speaker.
• Final: 100 minutes, 50 minutes per side, no more than 35 minutes to either speaker.

Speakers are scored out of 100 on knowledge of law, application of law to facts, ingenuity and ability to answer questions, style and demeanour, time management, coordination and teamwork, and adequacy of the prayer. Penalties apply for late or resubmitted memorials, formatting violations, missing memorial parts, excessive length and breach of anonymity.

The Winning Team and the Runners-Up Team receive a trophy, a cash prize, merit certificates and other prizes. Mementos and merit certificates go to the Best Memorial, Best Speaker and Best Researcher. Semi-finalists receive merit certificates and mementos, and quarter-finalists receive merit certificates. All participants receive certificates of participation at the valedictory ceremony.

As special perks announced in the rulebook, every participant gets one month of access to the SCC Online Web Edition worth Rs 3,100, and each of the three members of the Winning Team receives a one-year free subscription to the SCC Online Web Edition worth Rs 1,00,500.

Accommodation is arranged by the host institution for teams that opt for it, and only for the days of the competition, 8 to 10 October 2026. No arrangement is made for teams wishing to arrive early, and the institution provides no pickup or drop-off facility, so teams must arrange their own transport.

The competition is run paperless. Teams must compulsorily carry their own electronic devices for the oral rounds and are expected to download and save all documents in advance; the Organising Committee does not supply devices. Mobile phones must be switched off and handed to the bailiff while rounds are in session, though hard copies of bare acts and books may be used if needed. Written communication between team members during the oral rounds is permitted by electronic means. Grievances must be raised with the Grievance Committee within an hour of the relevant round or emailed to the official ID, never to the judges, and the decision of the Director, Amity Law School, Noida is final in all matters.