Sir Mian Abdul Rashid, KCSI ( ur, ; 29 June 1889 – 6 November 1981) was the first Chief Justice of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

legal philosopher Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal val ...

, one of the founding fathers of

, and a jurist.

Education

He was born on 29 June 1889 in a well-known

Arain Arain (also known as Raeen) are a large Punjabi agricultural tribe with strong political identity and organisation, found mainly in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh with a small population in parts of Indian Punjab, Uttar Pradesh ...

family, namely

Mian family of Baghbanpura Belonging to the Arain tribe of Punjab region, they are an aristocratic noble family originally from Areha Jericho Modern Palestine who entered in Indian Subcontinent with Umayyad Arab General Muhammad bin Qasim. The family has made great contrib ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. He received his early education at Central Model School in

, and got his B.A. from

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is an private liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church. The university follows an American-style curriculum. Founded in 1864 by America ...

, also in Lahore, and a Tripos and Masters from Christ's College,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in 1912. In 1913, he was called to the Bar from the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, London.

Law career

He started practising law at

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the old ...

and later shifted to

in 1913 where he joined the chambers of Mian Muhammad Shafi. He was then appointed Assistant Legal Remembrancer. In the summer of 1923, he was appointed acting judge of Lahore High Court on recommendation of Shadi Lal, who was then Chief Justice of the said court. From 1927 to 1931, he officiated as Government of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

's Advocate. He was appointed Judge,

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

in 1933. In 1946, he was made Chief Justice of Judicature at Lahore, and was knighted in that year's Birthday Honours list.

First Chief Justice of Pakistan

On 15 August 1947, when Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Rashid, as the most senior Muslim judge in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, administered the oath of office to him.

Awards and recognition

* In 2005, the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

honoured him by naming a main road (7th Avenue) after him in the federal capital,

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

. The former Seventh Avenue down to Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy and the Kashmir Highway has been renamed ''Justice Sir Mian Abdul Rashid Avenue''. *

Hilal-e-Pakistan Hilal-e-Pakistan () is the second-highest civil award (in the hierarchy of "Hilal") of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The award seeks to recognize those people who have made "meritorious contribution to the national interests of Pakistan, or ...

(Crescent of Pakistan) Award by the President of Pakistan

References

Bibliography

External links

Biography on the Judiciary Section of the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rashid, Abdul 1889 births 1981 deaths Punjabi people People from Lahore Forman Christian College alumni Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Chief justices of Pakistan Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Members of the Inner Temple Legal history of Pakistan 20th-century Pakistani philosophers Mian family Indian Knights Bachelor Pakistani judges Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Central Model School, Lahore alumni Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan Vice-Chancellors of the University of the Punjab