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Sri Lanka Judiciary
Although Sri Lanka's colonial heritage fostered a tradition
of judicial freedoms, this autonomy has been compromised since
independence by constitutional changes designed to limit the
courts' control over the president and by the chief executive's
power to declare states of emergency. Also, Parliament's
willingness to approve legislation, such as the 1979 Prevention
of Terrorism Act, vested the government in the late 1980s with
broad powers to deal with subversives, or those deemed
subversive, in an essentially extralegal manner. Observers in the
late 1980s reported that the act facilitated widespread abuses of
power, including the systematic torture of detainees, because it
recognized the admissibility as evidence of confessions to the
police not made in the presence of a magistrate.
Under the Constitution, the highest court is the Supreme
Court, headed by a chief justice and between six and ten
associate justices. Supreme and High Court justices are appointed
by the president. Superior Court justices can be removed on
grounds of incompetence or misdemeanor by a majority of
Parliament, whereas High Court justices can be removed only by a
judicial service commission consisting of Supreme Court justices.
The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review; it can
determine whether an act of Parliament is consistent with the
principles of the Constitution and whether a referendum must be
taken on a proposal, such as the 1982 extension of Parliament's
life by six years. It is also the final court of appeal for all
criminal or civil cases.
Data as of October 1988
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