Any research that applies the principles of psychology in legal contexts and applications can be considered as Legal Psychology.The unity of Psychology and Law is ‘Human Behavior’. The former seeks to understand human behavior and the latter to regulate human behavior.
From Theology, Common Law, Civil/Roman Law to Juries in the United States, differences in legal methods and types exists due to different belief systems, philosophical argumentsand sociocultural norms. Either wise societies change behavior according to the law or wise legislatives change the law according to behavior of society.
The following words written by Muhammad Azam Chaudhary in ‘Justicein Pakistan: The Legal ethnography of a Punjabi Village’ quoted by Anatol Lieven in his book Pakistan: A Hard Country, describes the state of legal psychology in the subcontinent adequately:
“The decision to go to the police/courts involves a risk of blemishing the izzat. You often hear ‘if you are a man, brave, and strong, come forward and fight directly. Why do you go to uncle police’, and that the real badla [revenge] could only be inflicted directly or by close relatives and not by the police or courts, But, on the other hand, if going to the police is only for the purpose of harassing the opponent and impoverishing him, it could become a source of adding to one’s izzat, especially by winning a court case against one’s rival. This competition of winning the cases in the courts between rivals lead to… ‘Addiction to litigation’.”
The fact that Succession Act 1925 is still relevant in Pakistan, is a curious case for both the legislatives and the psyche of the people
Conflicts of inheritance and succession have evolved through history of mankind and will continue to do so in the future.In such evolution of cultures and societies, the subcontinent wins the prize for stagnancy and stubbornness in attitude.
In the time of the Mughals, the rebellion of Aurangzeb against Shahjahan (his Father) and his brothers, was wars of succession. In the 21st Century, in politics, business, and families, the rebellion is the legal psychology of succession.The recursive and repetitive behavior in succession disputes is a testimony that one can change both, time and law, but to change the nature of human behavior is the true evolution of a society.
The fact that Succession Act 1925 is still relevant in Pakistan, is a curious case for boththe legislatives and the psyche of the people. The phenomenal paradox of the deceased unable to foresee conflict between his/her legal heirs and the inability of legal heirs to distribute wealthafter the deceased.
Heather Conway states the following in her paper ‘Where there’s a will…: Law and Emotion in Siblings Inheritance Disputes’:
“Siblings inheritance disputes are so emotionally charged that they can easily escalate. Brothers and Sisters refuse to back down in their quest to negate the emotional consequences of an uneven estate distribution, and prove themselves as an equally loved and equally worthy parental heir. The underlying feelings are not only complex and all consuming; they can also cause the disappointed sibling to engage in seemingly irrational behavior, with disastrous consequences.”
Why sons of the same fatherin the might of the junglefight for their financial survival? Or why brothers exploit the due share of their sisters? Such questions do demand an answer and a true reflection on this tragedy of siblings’ inheritance disputes in Pakistan.
Such legal battles are secondary in cause and effect, when the crux of the issue, is the diluted love in the toxicity of money. Statistics, History, and Human Behavior dictate that joint ownership and family do not mix.
The writer is a lecturer and trainer with accumulated experience from the US, Turkey and Germany
Published in Daily Times, March 2nd 2019.