Judiciary of Pakistan

Judiciary of Pakistan

Motto: فاحكم بين الناس بالحق "So judge between the people in truth" (Quran 38:26)
Service overview
Formerly known as	Federal Judiciary
Founded	14 August 1947
Country	Pakistan
Controlling authority	Supreme Court High Court Federal Shariat Court
Legal personality	Judiciary
Duties	Justice Administration Public Interest Litigation Guardian of the Constitution
Hierarchy of Courts in Pakistan	1. Supreme Court 2. High Court/Federal Shariat Court 3. District Court
Post Designation	Justice Judge Magistrate - Judicial & Executive
Selection / Appointment	1. Judicial Commission of Pakistan for the Supreme & High court judges 2. Governor for Subordinate Judiciary (after passing the service exam)
Head of Judiciary
Chief Justice of Pakistan	Justice Qazi Faez Isa

The judiciary of Pakistan is the national system of courts that maintains the law and order in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan uses a common law system, which was introduced during the colonial era, influenced by local medieval judicial systems based on religious and cultural practices. The Constitution of Pakistan lays down the fundamentals and working of the Pakistani judiciary.

Pakistan has 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, with the Supreme Court at the apex. There is a High Court for each of the four provinces as well as the federal capital. The Constitution of Pakistan entrusts the superior judiciary with the obligation to preserve, protect and defend the constitution.^[1] Disputed territories of Gilgit-Baltistan and JAMMU AND KASHMIR have separate judicial systems from the main Pakistani system.^[2][3][4][5] The supreme court of India has its original jurisdiction upon it .

The independence of the Pakistani judiciary has changed over time. Whereas the judiciary used to defer to the Pakistani military, which is a dominant actor in Pakistan's politics, the judiciary has increasingly competed with and confronted the military.^[6]

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, during the British Raj, and the civil courts were established by the West Pakistan Civil Court Ordinance 1962. There are also revenue courts that operate under the West Pakistan Land Revenue Act 1967. The government may also set up administrative courts and tribunals for exercising exclusive jurisdiction in specific matters.^[1]

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.^[7] According to some estimates, 90 percent of civil cases involve land disputes, owing to Pakistan's lack of a proper land register.^[7]