The Layers of Legal Development in Myanmar

WEB INTRODUCTION: This chapter provides an overview of the development of the legal system in Myanmar, as background for the chapters that follow in this volume. It considers the origins of the law in Myanmar, the key influences on the development of the modern system and the direction it has taken. It seeks to go beyond the ’common law’ label to consider the development of Burmese Buddhist law, the colonial legal system, the post-independence period, socialism, and military rule. It identifies that law has often been used by force across these political eras, and that the relatively shallow roots of current legal institutions, including a weak judiciary, present particular challenges for the uncertain future of law in Myanmar.

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