Law

Lawyers as Scientists

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  • Reading time:6 mins read

In Thomas More’s seminal work, Utopia, the travelling philosopher, Raphael Hythloday, recounts a conversation he once had with a lawyer regarding the prevalence of theft in England. The lawyer had been pondering over why people continued to steal when the punishment for theft was as severe as death? Hythloday explains that people resort to theft due to an array of economic and social factors, such as increasing poverty and the ‘enclosure movement’ in England at the time. He states that until these underlying issues are resolved, people will continue to steal despite the harshness of the punishment. Whenever I teach Utopia, I encourage my students to understand from this exchange that law does not exist independent of the social and economic framework of a country. It can only be understood within that framework. To try to cure the ills of society by simply pronouncing to “make more laws” is to expect from law far greater things than it can achieve. A society’s problems must be examined through a more critical lens before embarking on crafting laws to cure them. For example, upon the death of Salahuddin Ayubi in police custody, a debate on curbing police torture was ignited. One of the most popular solutions to the problem of police torture being proposed is that we need a law that specifically deals with this issue. But such a law may not be the solution people are looking for. Consider this: torture is already prohibited under our Constitution. While a new law may…

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Improving Access to Justice.

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Access to justice remains an elusive concept for most citizens of Pakistan. The new government, as part of its 100-day agenda, has announced various legislative amendments to improve the justice system in the country and the opposition parties will hopefully support the law reform objectives without political point-scoring. A comprehensive legal reforms package is required for much-needed improvements in the civil and criminal legal procedure and removing irrelevant and outdated legal provisions. However, there are many steps that can be taken without extensive legislative debate, which can also improve the situation in a short span of time. The following are some recommendations regarding steps that should be taken to improve access to justice, reduce the backlog of cases and make the justice system more efficient, transparent and accessible. Many of these recommendations have already been proposed by the judiciary and can be implemented by the judiciary itself, with support from the government. For instance, the Peshawar High Court has introduced a Judicial Reforms Strategy for 2018-22. The 244-page strategy document lists in detail the operational, legislative and technology related steps required to be undertaken to improve the judicial system and access to justice in the province. Many of the recommendations contained in this document can be replicated in other provinces as well. Similarly, the Lahore High Court introduced a Case & Court Management Handbook for the Punjab District Judiciary in 2017. The 74-page handbook, prepared under the guidance of the then Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, provides a…

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Rule of Law: Pakistan’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card.

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  • Reading time:4 mins read

A few weeks ago, a writ petition falling under the purview of Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010 was presented before the Islamabad High Court. The presiding judge asked only one question: “Was the harassment of a sexual nature?” When the counsel replied ‘no’, the judge declared, “Then it wasn’t harassment,” and set the file aside. The judge was within his powers to do so, as Section 2(h) of the 2010 Act loosely defines harassment under sexual acts. This is the law – the law that slaps a limited and coarse definition of a struggle many women face every day and the law that disables these very women from receiving justice. On the other hand, this is also a law which, in stark contrast to other common law states, defines harassment to be more than just a sexual act. This begs the question of how far the rule of law can be applied in Pakistan. How can we as citizens of Pakistan chant slogans for demanding the law to prevail above all else when it is our own law that does not hold up its end of the bargain? How can equity and equality exist in a state which allows a large proportion of criminal acts to be swept under the rug due to inadequacies in the foundation of the legal system? We can find laws in Pakistan coming out of every nook and cranny, but what good are sections or articles if they are vague, ill-defined euphemisms for miscarriages of justice? Legislation in Pakistan is…

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