Is Mohammad Ali Jinnah a great lawyer?
This issue has never been subjected to critical analysis by his many biographers. Jinnah the politician has always overshadowed and subsumed Jinnah the barrister.
But is he a great barrister? Do we have the evidence to support such a view?
All biographies gave an affirmative answer. They all however relied on as their source the 1954 book by Hector Belitho titled ” Jinnah creator of Pakistan.”
This biography was commissioned and authorized by the Pakistan government. Controversy surrounds this book for what was included and excised out. (See In Quest of Jinnah- Diary, Notes, and Correspondence of Hector Bolitho edited by Professor Sharif Al Mujahid.)
Hector tells us that Jinnah, after his Bar, returned to Bombay in 1897 where after three years of penury his “material struggle was over.”(p 14 hardcopy). Unfortunately, we are not told what cases he handled and who were his clients.
Hector relies more on interviews with three lawyers who know Jinnah. One of them told him this story- The Judicial Department head of Bombay “Sir Charles Ollivant offered Jinnah a job at the beginning of his career at 1,500 rupees a month. Jinnah refused and said he expected to make that sum every day…Once he was established, he probably earned more than any other lawyer in Bombay. ” (p 17).
Hector cites another story on page 17 told to him by a second lawyer who knows Jinnah-
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was in court.
The judge said to him, “Mr. Jinnah, remember that you are not addressing a third-class magistrate.”
Jinnah answered, ‘My Lord, allow me to warn you that you are not addressing a third-class pleader.’
Hector also tells us that Jinnah abandoned politics in 1931, relocated to live in Hampstead, London to practice at the Privy Council Bar till 1934. There he built up his new career.
Hector quotes Lord Jowitt who wrote, ” We all had a great admiration for his legal skill and the judgment with which he conducted his case before the Privy Council. “(p 101).
Unfortunately, we are not told what cases he conducted and who were his clients.