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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sri Lanka
Index
Founded on the principles of British law, the Sri Lankan
criminal justice system underwent major changes in the 1970s as
the government attempted to cope with the challenges posed by
both Sinhalese and Tamil insurgencies. Through a series of new
laws, constitutional provisions, and emergency regulations, Sri
Lanka acted to enlarge the legal powers of the police and armed
forces and to increase the capacity of the courts to deal with
the growing number of cases. These changes were at the expense of
individual civil liberties, and the new powers of the state
evoked strong criticism from all ethnic communities. The most
significant changes affected the rules of search, arrest, and
seizure and the procedures by which criminal cases were
investigated and tried. Through all this flux, the one element
that remained relatively constant was the Penal Code, established
in the late nineteenth century by the British colonial
government. Although various individual provisions were amended
to suit changing social conditions, in 1988 the general
classification and definition of crime and punishment set forth
in the code remained the basis of criminal law.
Data as of October 1988
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