Mechanism of Practicing Precedents by High Courts in Pakistan
Abstract
To understand the practice of precedent in Pakistan, Martin Lau’sarticleis agood starter1.Justice FazalKarim,in Part III of his book, “Access to Justice in Pakistan”, has given a brief pictureofthedoctrine ofprecedentinPakistanilegalsystem.2 However, he frequently quotes American case law to support his point of view, although any American decision, ifidentical to the case at Bar in Pakistan, is only persuasive. Moreover, our judges have advised against citing American/foreign case owning to the differences in socio- economic conditions between Pakistan on the one hand, and the United States and several other countries on the other. Secondly, he has discovered only twelve pages to precedent and its related aspects and does not discuss his own decisions regardingprecedentinPakistan.Thirdly,thebookfocusestoo much on civil and criminal procedures, jurisdiction of civil and criminal courts, trial, evidence, decree and its execution, and so on. This means that the book is essentially pre- occupied with procedural laws and does not discuss what it is.
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