Trivia of World Constitutions

What had really prompted me to start this blog was something I read about the German Constitution. Being the procrastinator and the extremely lazy person that I am that first post never materialized. All for the best, I would say, because I could not have started off with a post on anything as curious as what is these days being referred to as the Pakistani Constitution. Given the penchant of Pakistani leadership (for want of a more appropriate term. Ideally in a blog devoted to constitutions one would prefer to use regular constitutional jargon, such as the Executive or the Legislature, but what with the theory of multiple power centres within Pakistan, I think one should be content with the prospect of at least being able to refer to this unfortunate document, as the Pakistani Constitution, however ineffective and (euphemistically) flexible it may have proved so far) for making a spectacle of themselves, one doubted their ability to remember that there was something called as the Pakistani Constitution that was meant to guide them in Governing their country (assuming, of course, that these frequent spectacles they made of themselves could not have been constitutional). So the recent 18th amendment of the Pakistani Constitution and its restoration to its 1973 version was quite a news to me. As I continued to read more about this amendment I found a reference to what is known as the Doctrine of Necessity.

Doctrine of Necessity was invented by the Pakistani Supreme Court (then the Chief Court) in 1954 to validate the extra-constitutional dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by the Governor-General. Doctrine of Necessity, in short, is a doctrine used by the judiciary to validate an extra-constitutional act that can potentially circumvent or some times even suspend the constitution to preserve political stability in the time of exigencies. It shouldn't be difficult to guess that most of the military coups and the subsequent suspensions of Pakistani Constitution were legalized by the Supreme Court by invoking this very doctrine of necessity. Two other instances of the doctrine being invoked come from Grenada in 1985 and Nigeria in February this year.

What is even more curious though is the status of this 56-year old doctrine vis-a-vis the 18th amendment to the Pakistani constitution. The amendment has made provisions to hold any attempt to abrogate, subvert, suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution as equivalent to 'high treason'. Being a doctrine invented by the judiciary, its legitimacy originates from the Supreme Court judgements and considering that it was invented especially to circumvent the Constitution , how effective the 18th amendment will be in preventing the doctrine of necessity from being invoked again can only be decided by the Pakistani Courts. As for us, we may not have to wait long till the next Pakistani General decides to take the people of Pakistan for a ride, to witness a constitutional deadlock of this nature. Until that time let's hope that we find something even half as fascinating as the doctrine of necessity about other constitutions.

References:
1. http://www.rghr.net/mainfile.php/0825/1130/
2. http://174.143.70.122/articles/external-contrib/5162-the-doctrine-of-necessity-in-perspective.html