LAHORE -  The Oxford University Press (OUP) yesterday launched its recent publication ‘A History of the Judiciary in Pakistan’ authored by seasoned lawyer Hamid Khan.

The book is an in-depth study of the chequered judicial history of Pakistan since partition. It includes detailed discussion of the acts, lives, and judgments of important Pakistani judges, with their continuing effects on the country. It examines the tumultuous relationship between the judiciary and the executive against the background of the struggles and vicissitudes in the life of the nation.

While recounting the important events and developments in the country’s judicial history, the book highlights the Supreme Court’s exercise of suo moto jurisdiction in the matter of restoring to office the former Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Hamid Khan is former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan and the Lahore High Court Bar Association. He regularly lectures on various legal subjects at the University of the Punjab, Civil Services Academy, Administrative Staff College, and the National Institute of Public Administration. Hamid Khan’s other publications include The Islamic Law of Inheritance, Constitutional and Political History of Pakistan 2nd Edition, Principles of Administrative Law, and Comparative Constitutional Law.

Speakers at the book launch held at a local hotel included Justice (Retd) Jawwad S Khawaja and the Chief Guest, Justice (Retd) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The speakers emphasised that the book fills a gap in the availability of an objective narrative of the judiciary by adeptly covering its important cases and decisions.

They further added that the book will be of particular value to lawyers, judges, law professors, students of law, and the general readers.

Earlier in her welcome address, Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, OUP Pakistan, introduced the author and said thatHamid Khan has been a close witness to the shifting panorama within the judicial courts in the country, of which he has an insider’s understanding.

“An interesting feature of this book is the section ‘The Man and the Judge’, given at the end of each chapter, which describes the leading judge of that period,” she added.