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37-495: The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhala : ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව , romanized:  Śrī Laṃkā āndukrama vyavasthāva , Tamil : இலங்கைச் சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசின் அரசமைப்பு , romanized:  Ilaṅkaic caṉanāyaka cōcalicak kuṭiyaraciṉ aracamaippu ) has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by

74-658: A unicameral parliament and an Executive President. The term of office of the president and the duration of parliament were both set at six years. The new Constitution also introduced a form of multi-member proportional representation for elections to parliament, which was to consist of 196 members (subsequently increased to 225 by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution). The Constitution provided for an independent judiciary and guaranteed fundamental rights , providing for any aggrieved person to invoke

111-470: A " strict scrutiny " review in court. In American constitutional law , fundamental rights have special significance under the U.S. Constitution . Those rights enumerated in the U.S. Constitution are recognized as "fundamental" by the U.S. Supreme Court . According to the Supreme Court, enumerated rights that are incorporated are so fundamental that any law restricting such a right must both serve

148-662: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in

185-862: A century, with the free speech clause of the First Amendment first incorporated in 1925 in Gitlow v New York . The most recent amendment completely incorporated as fundamental was the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for personal self-defense, in McDonald v Chicago , handed down in 2010 and the Eighth Amendment 's restrictions on excessive fines in Timbs v. Indiana in 2019. Not all clauses of all amendments have been incorporated. For example, states are not required to obey

222-713: A compelling state purpose and be narrowly tailored to that compelling purpose . The original interpretation of the United States Bill of Rights was that only the Federal Government was bound by it. In 1835, the U.S. Supreme Court in Barron v. Baltimore unanimously ruled that the Bill of Rights did not apply to the states. During post- Civil War Reconstruction , the Fourteenth Amendment

259-839: A nationwide referendum, as specified in Article 83 of the Constitution. Articles 30(2) and 62(2), which govern the term limits of the President and Parliament respectively, only trigger a referendum if their terms are being extended to over six years. Reductions in term lengths can be enacted without a referendum. Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),

296-739: A new Republican Constitution. It was promulgated on 22 May 1972. This Constitution provided for a unicameral legislature named the National State Assembly with a term of office of 6 years and Sovereignty was entirely vested in it. A nominal President with a term of office of 4 years was appointed as the Head of State by the Prime Minister, Head of the Cabinet of Ministers responsible to the National State assembly. Ceylon

333-779: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of

370-471: A way around these limitations without overturning the Slaughterhouse precedent: they created a concept called Selective Incorporation. Under this legal theory, the court used the remaining Fourteenth Amendment protections for equal protection and due process to "incorporate" individual elements of the Bill of Rights against the states . "The test usually articulated for determining fundamentality under

407-463: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of siṁha , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to

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444-599: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala

481-484: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from

518-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of

555-552: Is still held to the more exacting standard of strict scrutiny, instead of the less demanding rational basis test. During the Lochner era , the right to freedom of contract was considered fundamental, and thus restrictions on that right were subject to strict scrutiny . Following the 1937 Supreme Court decision in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish , though, the right to contract became considerably less important in

592-617: The Constitution of Japan include: There are six fundamental rights recognized in the Constitution of India: Though many fundamental rights are also widely considered human rights, the classification of a right as "fundamental" invokes specific legal tests courts use to determine the constrained conditions under which the United States government and various state governments may limit these rights. In such legal contexts, courts determine whether rights are fundamental by examining

629-496: The Fifth Amendment 's requirement of indictment by grand jury . Many states choose to use preliminary hearings instead of grand juries. It is possible that future cases may incorporate additional clauses of the Bill of Rights against the states. The Bill of Rights lists specifically enumerated rights. The Supreme Court has extended fundamental rights by recognizing several fundamental rights not specifically enumerated in

666-729: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and

703-956: The National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. As of October 2022 it has been formally amended 21 times. It is Sri Lanka's second republican constitution, replacing the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 , its third constitution since the country received independence within the British Commonwealth as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, and its fourth constitution overall. Under the Soulbury Constitution , which consisted of The Ceylon Independence Act, 1947 and The Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council 1947, Sri Lanka

740-464: The Supreme Court for any violation of their fundamental rights. The Constitution also provided for a Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) who could investigate public grievances against government institutions and state officers and give redress. It also introduced anti-defection laws, and referendums on certain bills and on issues of national importance. Most provisions of

777-587: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest

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814-602: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the U.N. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , or the U.N. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , include the following: In Canada , the Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlines four Fundamental Freedoms. These are freedom of: On a European level, fundamental rights are protected in three laws: In Japan , fundamental rights protected by

851-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by

888-572: The Constitution of Sri Lanka can be amended by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. However, certain entrenched provisions of the Sri Lankan Constitution, such as those concerning the unitary state, sovereignty of the people, national symbols, religion, freedom of thought (Articles 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11), and the referendum requirement itself (Article 83), always require both a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approval at

925-438: The Constitution, including but not limited to: Any restrictions a government statute or policy places on these rights are evaluated with strict scrutiny . If a right is denied to everyone, it is an issue of substantive due process . If a right is denied to some individuals but not others, it is also an issue of equal protection . However, any action that abridges a right deemed fundamental, when also violating equal protection,

962-651: The Dudley Senanayake Government was failed due to such a propagation on 22 June 1968 too. The Senate consisted of 30 Members (elected 15 by the House and 15 by the Governor -General) was abolished on 2 October 1971. Amendments Sirimavo Bandaranaike came to office as the world's first woman Prime Minister in May 1970. Her United Front Government used the parliament as a Constituent Assembly and drafted

999-516: The Due Process Clause is that the putative right must be ' implicit in the concept of ordered liberty ', or ' deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition. '" Compare page 267 Lutz v. City of York, Pa., 899 F. 2d 255 - United States Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, 1990 . This set in motion a continuous process under which each individual right under the Bill of Rights was incorporated, one by one. That process has extended more than

1036-716: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,

1073-582: The Governor-General. That total number was increased to 151 by the 1959 Delimitation Commission and the term of the House was five years The S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Government set up a Joint Select Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives to consider a revision of the Constitution on 10 January 1958 but the committee was unable to come to a final conclusion on account of the propagation of Parliament on 23 May 1959. A similar attempt by

1110-681: The chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala

1147-539: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Fundamental rights Some universally recognised rights that are seen as fundamental, i.e., contained in

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1184-511: The historical foundations of those rights and by determining whether their protection is part of a longstanding tradition. In particular, courts look to whether the right is "so rooted in the traditions and conscience of our people as to be ranked as fundamental." Individual states may guarantee other rights as fundamental. That is, States may add to fundamental rights but can never diminish and rarely infringe upon fundamental rights by legislative processes. Any such attempt, if challenged, may involve

1221-607: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by

1258-504: The presidency an executive post. Under its provisions, then Prime Minister Jayawardene automatically became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka on 4 February 1978. Before the 1977 general election, the UNP had sought a mandate from the people to adopt a new constitution. Accordingly, a select committee was appointed to consider the revision of the existing Constitution. The new Constitution, promulgated on 7 September 1978, provided for

1295-546: Was adopted in 1868 to rectify this condition, and to specifically apply the whole of the Constitution to all U.S. states. In 1873, the Supreme Court essentially nullified the key language of the Fourteenth Amendment that guaranteed all " privileges or immunities " to all U.S. citizens, in a series of cases called the Slaughterhouse cases . This decision and others allowed post-emancipation racial discrimination to continue largely unabated. Later Supreme Court justices found

1332-490: Was replaced by republic of Sri Lanka (Resplendent Island). This constitution containing a declaration of fundamental rights and freedom was amended on 11 February 1975 to change the basis of delimitation of constituencies from 75,000 persons per electorate to 90,000 persons. J. R. Jayewardene who came to office in July 1977 with a five-sixths majority passed the second amendment to the 1972 Constitution on 4 October 1977, which made

1369-577: Was then known as Ceylon . The Soulbury Constitution provided a parliamentary form of Government for Ceylon and for a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission. Minority rights were safeguarded by Article 29(2) of the Constitution. The governor-general , the representative of the monarch of Ceylon , the Senate and the House of Representatives exercised legislative power. The House of Representatives consisted of 101 Members, of which 95 were elected by universal suffrage and 6 were nominated by

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