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Under the doctrine of stare decisis, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka generally treats its own prior judgments as binding. However, it can and does overturn its own previous decisions to correct legal errors, adapt to changing social realities, or rectify judgments made per incuriam (through carelessness or lack of regard to the law). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The primary mechanisms for doing so are assembling a larger Divisional Bench (e.g., a 5, 7, or 9-judge bench overriding a 3-judge bench) or invoking its inherent revisionary powers to vacate an earlier order in exceptional circumstances. [1, 2, 3, 4]

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1. Key Landmark Examples of the Supreme Court Overruling Itself

Sunpac Engineers (Pvt) Limited v. Abeygunawardena (2023)

• The Overruled Case: Ramachandran v. Hatton National Bank (2006).
• The Legal Context: For nearly two decades, the Ramachandran ruling dictated that under the Recovery of Loans by Banks (Special Provisions) Act, a bank could not use parate execution (selling mortgaged property by public auction without going to court) if the property belonged to a third-party guarantor rather than the primary borrower.
• The Overruling: A larger bench in Sunpac Engineers explicitly overruled the majority decision in Ramachandran. The court ruled that Parliament intended to facilitate speedy debt recoveries for the entire banking sector, meaning third-party mortgaged properties can be subjected to parate execution. [1]

Walker Sons & Co. Ltd. v. Gunatilake (1978/1980)

• The Overruled Case: Various early split-bench decisions regarding appellate finality.
• The Legal Context: This case heavily debated whether the Supreme Court was strictly bound by its own prior interpretation of labor laws and industrial disputes.
• The Overruling: The Supreme Court formally affirmed that while it values consistency, it regards itself as bound by its own decisions subject to their being overruled by a bench of greater numerical strength. This landmark case set the modern procedural baseline for how the apex court can legally overturn its own jurisprudence. [, 2, 3]

Pathirathne v. Abeywardena and others (2024)

• The Overruled Principle: Previous restrictive judicial remarks regarding the scrutiny of the Constitutional Council.
• The Legal Context: The case was filed seeking a judicial review of the Constitutional Council’s refusal to approve a judge’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
• The Overruling: The Supreme Court explicitly affirmed its jurisdiction over the council’s vetting powers. In doing so, it overruled by implication previous apex court remarks that limited inter-branch accountability concerning the executive and the council. [1]

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2. Legal Mechanisms Used to Overturn Previous Decisions

The Supreme Court utilizes specific frameworks when departing from its own precedent:

Mechanism [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]	Description	Example Scenario
Larger Divisional Bench	A bench with a greater numerical strength of judges (e.g., 5 or 7) is constituted by the Chief Justice to deliberately re-evaluate and overrule a prior 3-judge bench decision.	Used to overrule Ramachandran via the Sunpac ruling.
Per Incuriam Rule	The Court establishes that a previous decision was reached in ignorance of a statutory provision or a binding case law, rendering it non-binding.	Regularly argued in land partition and prescriptive title disputes.
Inherent Revisionary Power	The Court uses its exceptional powers to vacate its own order if it is proven that the initial judgment caused a gross miscarriage of justice or was based on fundamentally wrong facts.	Exercised strictly to prevent an abuse of process or structural injustice.

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In Sri Lanka, the Supreme Court is the apex judicial body and is technically bound by its own prior rulings under the doctrine of stare decisis. However, an enlarged bench (usually 5 or 7 judges) can explicitly overturn a previous Supreme Court precedent if it was decided per incuriam (in error) or if societal and legal shifts require a departure from past interpretations. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Notable instances and contexts where the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has varied or reconsidered its earlier positions include:

• Rights of the Accused & Confessions (Ediriweera vs. The Attorney General): The Supreme Court has historically revisited strict rules of evidence. In notable evidentiary and criminal jurisprudence, the Court has sometimes had to re-examine or re-interpret earlier categorical stances established by prior benches regarding circumstantial evidence (such as the strict application of the Ellenborough dictum) or the admissibility of confessions, adapting precedents to ensure no miscarriage of justice occurs.
• Administrative Law & Statutory Ouster Clauses (Maradana Mosque Trustees vs. Mahmud): The Sri Lankan Supreme Court historically adopted the English Anisminic approach, which allowed the higher judiciary to disregard statutory ouster clauses and review decisions that were deemed erroneous. This represented a significant shift in judicial review and administrative law, setting aside older, more restrictive precedents regarding the finality of administrative tribunals.
• Devolution and Self-Determination (Federal Party Case of 2017): In a landmark 2017 determination assessing whether the advocacy of a federal constitution violates the Sri Lankan Constitution, the Supreme Court revisited earlier post-1972 and post-1978 foundational rulings. The Court expanded the scope of permissible constitutional discourse by determining that advocating for federalism is not tantamount to secession, and recognizing the Tamil minority as a distinct “people” entitled to internal self-determination—a notable jurisprudential pivot from earlier, rigid unitary interpretations.
• Fundamental Rights and Confiscation (Manawadu vs. The Attorney General): A classic example of the Court correcting a previously harsh statutory interpretation was seen when the Supreme Court re-evaluated legislative provisions (like those under the Forest Ordinance) that allowed the automatic confiscation of vehicles used in offences. The Court recalibrated the balance between the State’s power to penalize and the fundamental right to own property, ensuring constitutional fairness. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Note: In Sri Lankan legal practice, the Court more frequently overturns decisions made by the Court of Appeal to reinforce its ultimate hierarchical authority. Instances of the Court explicitly overruling its own prior apex determinations require the convening of specially constituted benches to ensure legal certainty and finality. [1, 2, 3]

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