Fundamental Liberties and the Language Question

Abstract

The idea of inscribing a charter of rights in a written constitution is nothing new to political science. But though it was an articulated premise at the time Sri Lanka gained independence, Anglo-Saxon traditions and conventions did not favour such a scroll of guaranteed freedoms. Sir Ivor Jennings, advisor and part-architect of the 1948–1972 constitution wrote even as late as in 1956 (probably before the enactment of Sinhalese as the only official language) that “one should not attempt to deal with the problem of minorities by constitutional guarantees in Bills of Rights …”.¹ But a while later in 1961, he admitted that a statement on fundamental rights was necessary in the heterogeneous conditions of Sri Lanka’s society, adding “if I knew then, as much about the problems of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), as I do now, some of the provisions would have been different.”² In fact from pre-independence times to the present day Sri Lanka’s political elites have conducted a consistent campaign for the inclusion of meaningful rights in a constitutional document. Partly minority ethnic and religious groups have feared discrimination but just as importantly there has always been the perennial anxiety that politicians in office and officials will abuse and act in excess of their powers.