The Grand Final of the Foreign Language Communication Programme's annual Bucerius Common Law Moot competition took place on Tuesday, 9 November in the Moot Court.
Problem at the intersection of children’s and transgender rights
This year's problem was a topical one involving the intersection of children's and transgender rights. Students were required to make submissions on whether a person under the age of 18 has the capacity in law to consent to puberty-blocking treatment as a possible prelude to a later medical transition. Students were also required to address the question whether a court should be required to determine whether a child had the required competence to consent to the treatment.
After doing battle in the preliminary and semi-final rounds, two teams emerged as the ones most deserving of a spot in the Grand Final.
Two very strong teams in the final
Acting for the appellants were Franziska Schöche and Louis Gerkensmeyer, who skilfully used the relevant cases and materials with which they had been provided to make compelling submissions regarding the right of a young person to decide to receive the puberty-blocking treatment, as an aspect of the right to personal autonomy.
Putting up strong counterarguments were Alexandra Hufnagel and Franziska Jumpertz, who stressed the life-changing nature of the treatment and its fundamentally experimental nature.
Close win by the appellants
While both teams acquitted themselves superbly, facing down sometimes tough questions from the Bench, in the end the judges were of the view that the appellants put in the stronger performance and therefore awarded the coveted trophy to them.
Best wishes for all participants
The Foreign Language Communication Programme would like to thank all the students who took part in the competition for their excellent submissions. We sincerely hope that you will keep on mooting and continue to do Bucerius proud in the external mooting competitions available to you in your later years of study.
We in the Foreign Language Communication Programme are already looking forward to the next Bucerius Common Law Moot competition, which will take place in the summer trimester next year.
