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Pakistan Penal Code

National Civil and Private Law Codes

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The Pakistan Penal Code, formally Act XLV of 1860, is Pakistan's primary criminal statute, inherited at independence in 1947 from the Indian Penal Code drafted in 1860 by the First Law Commission under Lord Macaulay, drawing on English law, the French Penal Code, and the law of Louisiana. Since independence the Parliament of Pakistan has amended the code repeatedly, transforming what began as English common law adapted for colonial India into what is now described as a mixture of Islamic and English law. The code today comprises 23 chapters and 511 sections covering offenses from property crimes and violence to crimes against the state and cybercrime, and applies to anyone within Pakistan's territory.

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