In Search of a Suitable Model of Penal Code for Afghanistan

Abstract

During the Moghul rule of what now constitutes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the courts there administered the Shariah to the exclusion of Hindu law. Islamic law gave way to English criminal law with the increase of British influence in the Indian sub-continent. Before 1860, English criminal law, as modified to suit local circumstances, was administered in the Presidency-Towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. The draft of the Indian Penal Code was prepared by the First Law Commission, chaired by Thomas Babington Macaulay. Its basis is the law of England. Elements were also derived from the Napoleonic Code and from Edward Livingston’s Louisiana Civil Code of 1825. Finally, the Indian Penal Code was passed into law on 6 October 1860. The Code came into operation on 1 January 1862.