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6 - Indirect Praetorianism

‘Public Interest Litigation’ and the First Wave of Judicial Activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

Moeen Cheema
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
David Dyzenhaus
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Thomas Poole
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science
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Summary

As Pakistan emerged from military rule upon the death of General Zia in a plane crash in 1988, it underwent a new governmental experience marked by tussles between unsettled elected governments, a constitutionally empowered civilian presidency and a military establishment that covertly exercised considerable power. Chapter 6 unveils how the superior courts utilised the available political space to engineer a dramatic expansion of public law and carved a role for themselves as an important institution of the state. As the civil state’s machinery became the turf of power struggles, safeguarding its independence and ensuring its rule-boundedness emerged as a key pillar of the superior courts’ Writ jurisdiction. The superior courts also began to develop a more robust jurisprudence of rule of law and fundamental rights, while the Supreme Court utilised its Original jurisdiction for the first time to institute Public Interest Litigation. Nonetheless, recurrent involvement in matters of pure politics and governmental change resulted in direct confrontations between the judiciary and elected governments, and ultimately the politicisation of judicial review.

Type
Chapter
Information
Courting Constitutionalism
The Politics of Public Law and Judicial Review in Pakistan
, pp. 138 - 168
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Indirect Praetorianism
  • Moeen Cheema, Australian National University, Canberra, David Dyzenhaus, University of Toronto, Thomas Poole, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Courting Constitutionalism
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913065.007
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  • Indirect Praetorianism
  • Moeen Cheema, Australian National University, Canberra, David Dyzenhaus, University of Toronto, Thomas Poole, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Courting Constitutionalism
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913065.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Indirect Praetorianism
  • Moeen Cheema, Australian National University, Canberra, David Dyzenhaus, University of Toronto, Thomas Poole, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book: Courting Constitutionalism
  • Online publication: 16 December 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108913065.007
Available formats
×