LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has held that an offer to settle a civil dispute through a “special oath” on the Holy Quran, coupled with a condition of divorce if the oath is false, is not a lawful offer.
Justice Anwaar Hussain issued the ruling allowing a civil revision filed by Muhammad Azam Khan against Akhtar Khan and others.
During a pending appeal before an appellate court, the petitioner had offered in August 2023 to have the matter decided by an oath on the Holy Quran taken by the opposing side, with a condition that the oath-taker’s wife would stand divorced if the oath proved false.
On Aug 22, the respondents appeared before the appellate court and expressed willingness to take the oath, while the petitioner said he did not wish to proceed.
Says divorce clause renders special oath offer unlawful; sets aside order refusing withdrawal of special oath offer
He formally applied to withdraw the offer on Aug 24, when the respondents accepted the oath but rejected the divorce condition.
The appellate court dismissed his withdrawal application in September 2023, ruling that the offer had been accepted.
It also directed that the oath be taken on the Holy Quran alone, holding the divorce stipulation contrary to public policy.
Justice Hussain held that the appellate court erred.
He maintained a special oath is not a mere private contract but a procedure governed by the Oaths Act, 1873.
Section 8 of the Act permits only oaths that are not repugnant to justice or decency and do not affect any third person.
A condition tying a perjury penalty to the oath-taker’s wife’s divorce violated both limits, the judge said.
The judge noted that, even if the offer was valid, the respondents’ reply was not absolute.
Assisting the court as amicus curiae, Barrister Awais Arshad, submitted that an offer for special oath must be examined not only under the 1873 Act, but also in the light of the principles governing offer, acceptance and revocation under the Contract Act, 1872.
He said acceptance does not automatically follow an offer and, in the present case, where the petitioner expressed his intention to withdraw the offer during the same proceedings in which the respondents conveyed their acceptance, it cannot be presumed that a concluded agreement had come into existence.
Justice Hussain ruled that a court cannot strike out an objectionable condition and enforce the rest against a party who never assented to the altered arrangement.
The judge also found that the order sheet of the relevant hearing did not establish whether the petitioner’s refusal came before or after the respondents’ willingness.
He further noted that a claim that one respondent had travelled from abroad specifically for the oath collapsed when his passport was summoned and the counsel acknowledged he was already in Pakistan.
The judge allowed the petition and set aside the appellate court’s order that had refused to let the petitioner withdraw the offer.
The judge directed the appellate court to decide the appeal on its merits without treating the proposed oath as binding on the petitioner.
Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2026
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