Civil Laws

The Abandoned Properties (Management) Act, 1975 vests in the Federal Government, and provides for the management of, property left in Pakistan by former citizens who lost Pakistani citizenship after East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, with an Administrator empowered to take possession, assess damages, and confirm or refuse transfers.

A 1980 ordinance banning unauthorized agents from soliciting or influencing Hajis' selection of their official Moallim (Haj guide/sponsor), punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a fine of up to five thousand rupees.

This Ordinance requires all pesticides to be registered with the Federal Government before import, manufacture, or sale in Pakistan, and sets up inspectors, analysts, and a technical advisory committee to oversee pesticide safety and enforcement.

The Anti-Dumping Duties Ordinance, 2000 established the framework and National Tariff Commission process for investigating and imposing anti-dumping duties on imports sold below normal value, but it was repealed and replaced by the Anti-Dumping Duties Act, 2015.

The Arbitration Act, 1940 is the core law governing private arbitration in Pakistan, covering how arbitrators are appointed (with courts stepping in if parties cannot agree), and how arbitration awards are filed, modified, and turned into enforceable court judgments. It is an old law with a long amendment history.

This 1886 colonial-era act set up voluntary registration of births and deaths for certain classes of people and central record-keeping of related marriage registers, but its mechanics have largely been superseded by modern civil registration systems.

An 1873 Punjab-focused law regulating government canal water supply, drainage works, water-rate charges, canal navigation, and related offences, including powers of entry, compulsory labour for canal works, and warrantless arrest for canal damage.

The Cantonments Pure Food Act, 1966 prohibits the adulteration and misbranding of food sold in Pakistan's cantonment areas, setting rules for manufacture, sale and labelling of food, and establishing inspection, sampling, and analysis procedures enforced by local Cantonment Boards.

The Cantonments Rent Restriction Act, 1963 controls rents and protects tenants from arbitrary eviction in buildings within cantonment areas, letting a Controller of Rents fix "fair rent" (capping any increase at 25% of existing rent) and setting a fine of up to five hundred rupees for violations.

A 1948 Ordinance giving the Federal Government emergency power to requisition immoveable property within cantonments (excluding places of worship), with compensation determined by the government and largely shielded from court challenge.

A 1963 Ordinance formally defining the geographic boundaries of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, covering roughly 350 square miles within Rawalpindi district, using a detailed surveyor's boundary description.

A 1925 law that adopts international shipping rules (the Hague Rules) setting out a sea carrier's duties, the situations where it is excused from liability for lost or damaged cargo, and a cap on how much it must pay per package.

An 1865 law setting when common carriers (transport businesses) are liable for lost or damaged goods, limiting liability for undeclared valuable items listed in the Schedule (Section 3) and requiring written notice of loss within six months (Section 10).

An 1850 Act protecting a person's property and inheritance rights from being forfeited under religious or caste-based laws simply because they changed religion or lost caste.

A 1920 law that lets anyone interested in a charitable or religious trust, or the trustee themselves, ask a District Judge's Court for information, an accounts audit, or guidance on managing the trust, without a full lawsuit, with an appeal to the High Court available within ninety days.

This 1890 act lets charitable trust property be formally vested in a government-appointed Treasurer of Charitable Endowments, who holds it in bare trusteeship and can administer it under a court-free 'scheme' the government settles with the trust's administrators.

A 1953 law applying only to Karachi Division that requires anyone collecting private or charitable donations to file a declaration -- and, for charitable funds, get official sanction -- keep audited accounts, and use the money only for its stated purpose, with penalties for misapplication or unauthorised collection.

A 1973 law imposing a development surcharge on chemical fertilizer manufacturers and stockists equal to the gap between production/import cost and the government-set maximum sale price, enforced alongside price-control law.

The Civil Aviation Ordinance, 1960 is Pakistan's foundational aviation law, giving the Federal Government power to regulate aircraft, airports, air transport services, and related international conventions, and to make rules on licensing, safety, and airspace restrictions.

Pakistan's foundational civil procedure law, setting out how lawsuits are filed and heard, how court judgments (decrees) are enforced through execution and attachment of property, and the appeal, review, and revision process.

The Conciliation Courts Ordinance, 1961 set up local Conciliation Courts (a Chairman plus party-nominated representatives) to resolve minor civil disputes and specified minor criminal offences without lawyers, though it has been repealed in Punjab and now mainly applies in the Islamabad Capital Territory and cantonments.

The core statute governing how contracts are formed, performed, and breached in Pakistan, covering free consent, void agreements, indemnity and guarantee, bailment and pledge, and the law of agency; its original sale-of-goods chapter was repealed and replaced by the Sale of Goods Act, 1930.

Sets out how cooperative farming societies are formed and run in Pakistan, requiring at least 20 members and at least 500 pooled acres (300 in the former NWFP), and establishes a district-to-national federation structure to oversee them.

This 1960 Ordinance required cooperative banks and societies to force repayment of unsecured or under-secured loans on a fixed multi-year schedule, giving the Registrar of Cooperative Societies final authority to resolve disputes.

A now-repealed 2001 ordinance (superseded by Act XIII of 2015) that set out Pakistan's framework - built on WTO trade rules - for the National Tariff Commission to investigate and impose countervailing duties offsetting unfair foreign government subsidies.

The 1870 law that requires court fees (usually paid via stamps) on documents filed in courts and public offices, and sets out how those fees are calculated for different kinds of lawsuits and for probate/letters of administration.

This 1948 Act (updated in 2022 to allow online administration) lets Pakistani diplomatic and consular officers abroad administer oaths, affidavits, and notarial acts with full legal effect, sets official fee tables, and penalises overcharging, false oaths, and forged seals.

A 1972 law giving legal effect in Pakistan to the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations, granting foreign missions, diplomats, and consular officers inviolability and immunity from Pakistani jurisdiction, subject to a reciprocity mechanism.

A 1957 law granting Commonwealth countries' chief representatives in Pakistan (and their staff and families) immunity from suit and legal process similar to that of foreign diplomats, on terms the government can adjust for reciprocity.

A 1963 law granting reciprocal diplomatic-style immunity to Commonwealth country representatives and their official staff attending conferences held in Pakistan, administered through Gazette-published lists.

An 1876 law empowering the government to prohibit or licence public dramatic performances considered scandalous, seditious or obscene, with penalties for those who defy a prohibition order.

The 1882 law defining easements (rights over a neighbour's land, like a right of way or right to light) and licenses (revocable permissions to use land), setting out how they are created, exercised, disturbed and extinguished.

This 1969 Ordinance continued specific wartime Defence of Pakistan Rules governing control of trade with an "enemy" and administration of enemy-owned property, after the original wartime ordinance lapsed.

Establishes the Evacuee Trust Property Board to manage and dispose of properties (mainly temples, gurdwaras and other religious/charitable institutions) left behind after Partition, giving the Board wide powers while largely shielding its decisions from the civil courts.

An 1855 law that first allowed a deceased person's family (wife, husband, parent, or child) to sue for compensation when their death was caused by another's wrongful act, neglect, or default.

A 1946 law giving Pakistan's Federal Government sweeping powers to regulate, restrict, detain, and deport foreigners, with later amendments adding offences for assisting illegal entry, employing illegal entrants, and requiring registration with NADRA.

A 1998 Act freezing withdrawals and transfers of foreign currency held in Pakistan as of 28 May 1998 without State Bank permission, enacted amid the crisis following Pakistan's nuclear tests.

The General Clauses Act, 1897 supplies the standard definitions and default interpretation rules -- such as what happens when a law is repealed, and that masculine/singular terms include feminine/plural -- that apply across all Pakistani federal legislation unless a specific law says otherwise.

An 1893 Act setting up a system for the Provincial Government to grant special tenancies on its own land in the North-West Frontier, with tenancy conditions recorded in official registers and restricted transfer rights.

This 1967 Act lets the Federal Government levy a price equalization surcharge on certain imported goods to bring their landed cost up to the highest declared rate for that period, evening out prices across different import sources.

The Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan Act, 2012 creates IPO-Pakistan, an autonomous body under a Policy Board and Chairman, to administer and enforce intellectual property rights, integrating the former Trade Marks Registry, Copyright Office and Patent Office and establishing Intellectual Property Tribunals.

An 1839 Act giving courts discretion to award interest on unpaid debts, running from the due date under a written instrument or from the date of a written payment demand.

A 1995 law that protects consumers in Islamabad Capital Territory from unfair trade practices and false advertising, establishing a Consumers' Protection Council and making the Court of Sessions, Islamabad the complaint-handling Authority, with penalties up to two years' imprisonment and fines up to forty thousand rupees.

An 1855 Act allowing a deceased person's estate to sue, or be sued, for financial wrongs committed shortly before death, and letting ongoing lawsuits continue despite a party's death.

The Limitation Act fixes the time limits within which suits, appeals, and court applications must be filed, with exceptions for minors, fraud, and written acknowledgments of debt, and provides that a case filed too late must be dismissed even if no one objects.

A 1965 wartime law that gives people displaced by war or armed hostilities, or detained in enemy territory, an extra six months to file lawsuits, appeals, or applications after their deadline would otherwise have expired.

An 1875 Act fixing the age of legal adulthood in Pakistan at eighteen, or twenty-one for minors who have a court-appointed guardian or are under a Court of Wards.

An 1892 law retroactively validating certain Christian marriages that officiants had mistakenly solemnized between a Native Christian and a non-Christian, while penalizing officiants who knowingly repeated the mistake afterward.

An 1855 Act protecting good-faith tenants who paid rent to the wrong person, and compensating people who built improvements on land they honestly (but wrongly) believed they owned.

A 1942 law that governs co-operative societies operating across more than one province, treating them as validly registered everywhere they operate and allowing a Central Registrar to oversee them.