The Dictator, the Imam and the Judge: The Impact of Religion on the Courts

• In Event: Poster Session: Political Economy

Abstract

How does religion impact the courts? In this paper, we document a substantial impact of religious leaders on judicial decision making in Pakistan. Utilizing a unique dataset on 13th-century holy Muslims shrines across Pakistan, we show that districts where historically the shrine density was high, a military coup in 1999 induced a large decline in judicial independence and quality of judicial decisions. We present evidence consistent with the mechanism that increased political power of religious leaders allowed them to influence the courts. In particular, we show the impact of shrine density on the courts is only observed where local religious leaders gained political power and only in the cases involving disputes with the local government. We also show a judicial selection reform that changed the appointment procedure to select judges from Presidential appointment to selection by a judicial commission consisting of peer judges mitigates the effect of historical shrine density on judicial outcomes.

Keywords: religion, courts, institutions, Islam

Author

• Sultan Mehmood, University of Paris-Dauphine