You are here:  Home   |   Opinion   |   Columns   |   IS
PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY STILL A QUESTION?‏   Wednesday 11,
December 2013     Posted by: Faisal Mehmood, Uploaded: 26th
March 2012  Immunity from prosecution is provided to elected
leaders, head of states and other officials either for life or
during their time in office, in many legal and constitutional
systems. This may only be connected to matters directly related
to office, or it may be for any prosecution. This immunity drive
its origin from English common law based on doctrine that “rex
non potest peccare” means the king (or queen) can do no wrong
and the King could not be sued in his own courts. Historically
Pope Gelasius (I) established sovereign immunity as a political
principle, as a mean to protect the sovereign pontiff and Holy
See from trials and persecutions. The same concept was adopted
in many countries as French presidential office carries with it,
the immunity from all prosecution while the president remains in
office. In the U.K. parliam