A Noisy Legal System

An efficient judicial system is required for quick contract enforcement. In Pakistan, disputes over contract enforcement drag for decades having negative implications for investment and corporate business formation. The judicial statistics of the courts for the period 2007–2020 are analyzed. Interestingly, the number of cases instituted, disposed of, and pending decision, all three are persistently increasing. The costs of delays are horrendous in terms of money and time. The legal origins literature is discussed and it is argued that this line of scholarship suffers from serious deficiencies as certain important legal systems like Islamic law and informal system of justice, which remained in practice for long in the subcontinent region, are totally ignored by the legal origins literature. In Pakistan, the plurality of legal systems is a fact. The majority of the people still approach informal channels of dispute resolution as these channels are speedy, less costly, and help restore emotional closure. The case is not that informal channels are preferable over the formal justice system. Rather point is that contract enforcement by the formal justice system is very weak and resultantly the legal system of Pakistan has become a big constraint on investment and economic growth. So some reforms like better case flow management, better self-regulation by the judges, transparency about shelf life statistics, strengthening alternate dispute resolution (ADR) system, and establishing linkages between the formal and informal justice system are suggested for improving the system and make it work for quick enforcement of contracts and cost-effective dispensation of justice.