Married Women's Property Act, 1874

This 1874 law protects the property rights of married women in Pakistan, ensuring that a woman's own earnings and property remain hers, separate from her husband. It explicitly does not apply to women who are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, or Jain (per Section 2), since those communities are governed by their own personal laws, meaning today it functions in a narrow scope.

Section 4 states that a married woman's wages and earnings from her own employment, trade, or artistic/literary/scientific skill, along with savings and investments from them, are treated as her separate property, and only her own receipt can validly discharge payment for them.

Sections 5 and 6 deal with life insurance: a married woman can take out her own insurance policy independently of her husband (Section 5), and a husband's policy taken out for the benefit of his wife or children is held in trust for them and is protected from his creditors and his own control (Section 6).

Sections 7 to 9 address legal proceedings and debts: a married woman can sue and be sued in her own name to protect her separate property (Section 7); a person who contracts with a woman relying on her separate property can sue her to recover from that property (Section 8); and a husband is not liable for his wife's debts incurred before their marriage (Section 9).

Section 10 limits a husband's liability for his wife's actions as a trustee or executor - he is not liable for her breach of trust or mismanagement of an estate unless he personally interferes in the administration.

This is a very old law with extensive amendment history (footnotes reference the Federal Laws Revision Ordinance, 1981, and amending acts back to 1923), so any provision relied on should be checked against the current official text.