Hierarchy of courts.

• Sri Lankan law is based on English common law system. As a result, the English law principles such as judicial precedent (lower courts follow the reasoning of the higher courts in similar, subsequent cases) and ratio decidendi (reasons for judgment) govern the interpretation of the case law. Civil cases are heard by the District Courts, and the Criminal cases by Magistrates’ Courts and High Courts. From decisions of these trial courts, an appeal lies to the Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court.

• Parliament makes law in Sri Lanka . Laws are published in Acts of Parliament. The term “Ordinance” refers mostly to legislation passed during the British rule, the term “Law” or “Act” refers to more recent legislation. In most laws, the Parliament delegates the rule making authority to administrative (executive) agencies. The rules or regulations made by such agencies are published in the Government gazette.

• All the case law cited here are from the Sri Lanka Law Reports (SLR). Before the SLR, there were New Law Reports (NLR). Whenever there is a reference to NLR, remember they are older than SLR! The cases on this site are just a handful of cases decided on human rights, known in Sri Lanka as fundamental rights. However, you will be able to have a reasonable understanding of Sri Lanka’s human rights by reading these cases.

• Some laws available on this site may have been amended. However, most amendments are not available electronically. The only way to access the most recent amendments would be to obtain a paper copy from the Sri Lanka Publication Bureau.

• More details may be available from the websites listed in this site as useful links. This site is intended to provide a basic understanding of Sri Lanka ’s laws relating to human rights. It is not advisable to rely solely on this information to do a complete research on Sri Lanka ’s human rights. Nevertheless, this will be a good starting point.