What are the differences between mock trial and moot court?
Moot court is an extracurricular activity at many law schools in which participants take part in simulated court proceedings, usually to include drafting briefs and participating in oral argument. The term derives from Anglo Saxon times, when a moot was a gathering of prominent men in a locality to discuss matters of local importance. The modern activity differs from a “mock trial”, as moot court usually refers to a simulated appellate court or arbitral case, while a “mock trial” usually refers to a simulated jury trial or bench trial. Moot court does not involve actual testimony by witnesses or the presentation of evidence, but is focused solely on the application of the law to a common set of evidentiary assumptions to which the competitors must be introduced. In the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, the phrase “a moot court” may be shortened to simply “a moot” and the activity may be called “mooting”.
