Emergence of two legal cultures in Sri Lanka and the growth of a litigious nation under western powers

Abstract

The king of Sri Lanka was the fountain of justice and wielded absolute authority subject to Dhamma andVyavahara. His authority was delegated to and exercised by his officials corresponding to their executiveduties and also by judicial institutions that evolved over the years. These laws and legal institutions seemto have evolved over the years from the recollections of laws and institutions familiar to the early settlerswho had migrated from India and other parts of Asia, modified and adjusted to local circumstances andalso to the Buddhist principles. The laws thus evolved were flexible and elastic and administeredhumanely and imaginatively according to the nature and circumstance of the issue. It had a menu ofdispute resolution techniques such as mediation, conciliation, negotiation, arbitration, adjudication orcombination of such techniques. When the western powers became the masters of Sri Lankan territories, they continued the same systemwith moderate changes to suit their objectives. The British who succeeded the Dutch introduced theirown legal institutions and procedures without abolishing the existing system, and also made too manyexperiments within a short period. The system thus introduced was novel and alien to Sri Lankans andwas inconsistent with the spirit of simplicity to which they had been long accustomed. It was soonevident that the English laws, institutions and procedures led to costs and delays amounting to an'absolute denial of justice, and perjury was rampant. Steps were taken in this context to resurrect the basicindigenous legal institutions and to follow the traditions and customs. Thus by the end of the nineteenthcentury two legal cultures had evolved and the spirits of litigency seem to have been well rooted amongthe natives