Law of Pakistan - Influences

Influences

The political ideology was largely sculpted by the likes of individuals such as Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-e Azam)- the founder of Pakistan- while studying Law at Lincoln's Inn in London, he became an admirer of British liberalism. It was the these influences that led to the Pakistani common law being based upon the common law of England and Wales. He took on the role as titular figurhead of Pakistani politics and as a result Pakistan is now a common law system, with an adversarial court procedure and follows other common law practices such as judicial precedent and the concept of stare decisis. However Pakistan differs from the classic common law in many way. Firstly both the criminal and civil laws are almost completely codified, a legacy from the days of the British Raj, when English laws were extended to India by ways of statute. Jury trials have been phased out in Pakistan since independence, because of judicial and public dissatisfaction with their operation; one Pakistani judge called jury trials as "amateur justice". In constitutional law matters Pakistani jurisprudence has been greatly influenced by the United States legal system, Pakistan has adopted a US-style Federal Structure. Islamic law and traditional jirga-based law has also influenced the country's judicial development.