Law Commission Ordinance, 1979

This Ordinance establishes what is now called the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, the body responsible for reviewing and recommending reforms to Pakistan's laws and improving access to justice. It applies to the whole of Pakistan and was originally promulgated as the Law Commission Ordinance during a period when the National Assembly was suspended.

Section 3 sets out the Commission's membership: the Chief Justice of Pakistan as Chairman, the Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court, the Chief Justices of the High Courts, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Ministry of Law, the Chairperson of the Commission on Women Status, and four appointed members (one per province) drawn from judges, lawyers, civil society figures, or law teachers. Appointed members serve three-year terms and can resign by writing to the President.

Section 6 sets out the Commission's core function: continuously reviewing Pakistan's statutes and recommending improvement, modernization, and reform to the federal and provincial governments, covering things like updating laws for changing social needs consistent with Islamic social justice, simplifying procedures for cheaper and faster justice, codifying and unifying scattered laws, removing anomalies and obsolete provisions, and reducing inconsistencies between federal and provincial legislation. Later additions to Section 6 give the Commission a role in improving court administration, coordinating the judiciary and executive, reviewing legal education, advising governments on referred legal questions, and entering agreements with foreign law commissions or human rights bodies.

Section 6-A establishes an Access to Justice Development Fund, seeded with an endowment of US $24 million from the Federal Government plus other grants and donations. Section 6-B allocates the Fund's annual investment income by fixed percentages: about 60.3% to provincial Judicial Development Funds for court facilities, 10% for underdeveloped regions, up to 4.5% each for legal/judicial research and judicial academy activities, 13.5% to 20% for legal aid to the poor, 4.5% to 10% for legal education initiatives, and 2.7% retained by the Commission for fund management. Section 6-C lets the Commission form committees, and Section 6-D requires an annual report to the President.

This 1979 Ordinance has been substantially reshaped by later amendments — notably Ordinance 70 of 2002, which renamed the body and restructured its composition and functions, and Act VIII of 2014, which added the Fund provisions and international cooperation powers — so most of the substantive detail here reflects those later changes rather than the original 1979 text.