Fatal Accidents Act, 1855

The Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 is one of Pakistan's oldest and most enduringly important civil laws, giving families a right to sue for compensation when a wrongful act, neglect, or default causes someone's death. Before this Act, no lawsuit could be brought over a death caused by another's wrongdoing, even though the injured person could have sued had they survived; Section 1 fixes that gap by allowing the deceased's wife, husband, parent, or child to claim damages, through a suit brought in the name of the deceased's executor, administrator, or legal representative — and this applies even if the death also amounted to a crime.

The court decides how much compensation reflects the actual loss suffered by each family member, and divides the recovered amount (after costs) among them as it directs.

Section 2 limits families to one lawsuit per death, though the executor or administrator can add a separate claim for any financial loss the deceased's own estate suffered because of the wrongful act — that portion becomes part of the estate's assets rather than being split among family members. Section 3 requires the lawsuit to clearly identify who it is being brought on behalf of and the nature of the claim.

Section 4 defines key terms broadly: "person" includes corporate bodies, "parent" includes grandparents as well as father and mother, and "child" includes sons, daughters, grandchildren, and step-children (though step-parents were deliberately excluded). This nearly 170-year-old Act remains the foundational basis for wrongful-death claims in Pakistan and should be read together with the Limitation Act, 1908 for the applicable time limit to file such a claim.