Categories/system of Law & Pakistani Legal System

Categories/system of law & Pakistani legal system
Corporate Law & Taxation
3/1/2018
Submitted To: Mr Imran Raza Kazmi
Akif Zubair, Momoona Javed, Hina Tehseen, Aneela Amannat
Lahore Business School (University Of Lahore)

Pakistan
Pakistan is an Islamic republic. Islam is the state religion, and the Constitution requires that laws
be consistent with Islam. The country has an area of 310,527 square miles and a population of
170 million. Official figures on religious demography, based on the most recent census, showed
that approximately 96 percent of the population is Muslim. The majority of Muslims in the
country are Sunni, with a Shi'a minority ranging between 10 to 20 percent.
System of law in Pakistan

The Law of Pakistan is the law and legal system existing in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Pakistani law is based upon the legal system of British India; thus ultimately on the common law
of England and Wales.
History of law
The political ideology was largely sculpted by the likes of individuals such as Muhammad Ali
Jinnah the founder of Pakistan- while studying Law at Lincoln's Inn in London; he became an
admirer of British liberalism. It was these influences that led to the Pakistani common law being
based upon the common law of England and Wales.
The founder Of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah had a vision regarding the law of Pakistan, to
implement a system in accordance to Islamic teachings, but it was never fulfilled. This vision,
however, did have a lasting effect on later Pakistani lawmakers. During the reign of
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, elements of Islamic Sharia law were incorporated into Pakistani
law, leading to the institution of a Federal Shariat Court (FSC).
Pakistan Legal System

The judiciary of Pakistan is a hierarchical system with two classes of courts: the superior (or
higher) judiciary and the subordinate (or lower) judiciary. The superior judiciary is composed of
the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court and five High Courts (appellate court),
with the Supreme Court at the apex. There is a High Court for each of the four provinces as well
as a High Court for the Islamabad Capital Territory. The disputed regions of Azad
Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan have separate court systems. The higher courts can gave binding
on the decisions of lower level courts, (as of seniority level of courts).
LBS (UOL) Page 2

As the Supreme Court of Pakistan doesn't have jurisdiction over Gilgit Baltistan, thus another
form of APEX Court named Supreme Appellate Court for Gilgit Baltistan has been introduced,
with designated powers as that of Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The subordinate judiciary consists of civil and criminal district courts, and numerous specialized
courts covering banking, insurance, customs and excise, smuggling, drugs, terrorism, taxation,
the environment, consumer protection, and corruption. The criminal courts were created under
the Criminal Procedure Code 1898 and the civil courts were established by the West Pakistan
Civil Court Ordinance 1964.
The president appoints the Supreme Court's chief justice and formally approves other Supreme
Court justices as well as provincial high court judges on the advice of the chief justice. The
Federal Shariat Court determines whether laws are consistent with Islamic injunctions. Special
courts and tribunals hear particular types of cases, such as drugs, commerce, and terrorism.
Pakistan's penal code has limited jurisdiction in tribal areas, where law is largely derived from
tribal customs.
The 1973 constitution guarantees freedom of speech, press, and religion as well as the right to
bail, counsel, habeas corpus, representation, appeal, and numerous other protections. However,
the government has constitutional authority to limit civil liberties in accordance with Islamic
doctrine, national security, and other circumstances. Pakistani courts can impose the death
penalty. The judiciary also suffers from low public credibility, large case backlogs, corruption,
and a lack of resources. As of 2017, Pakistan’s judiciary is suffering from a backlog of two
million cases, with lawsuits taking an average of nearly ten years to resolve. According to some
estimates, 90% of civil cases involve land disputes, owing to Pakistan’s lack of a proper land
register.
Pakistan's Rule of Law development has suffered from decades of military rule with only short
lived and intermittent experience with democratic governance. Since much of the law derives
from the British colonial system, it is seen by many as lacking legitimacy. There is also tension
between the inherited common law system and the Islamic law based on the Quran, especially in
outlying provinces and regions. Questions about legitimacy are compounded by the low level of
efficiency, the prevalence of delays, the inferior quality of legal training, corruption, and the
perception that the court system is a tool for the delay of justice, manipulated by rich and/or
powerful interests in the society.
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Organ-gram of courts
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Categories/system of law & Pakistani legal system

Corporate Law & Taxation

Akif Zubair, Momoona Javed, Hina Tehseen, Aneela Amannat

Lahore Business School (University Of Lahore)

System of law in Pakistan

Pakistan Legal System

LBS (UOL) Page 2

LBS (UOL) Page 3

LBS (UOL) Page 4

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