{"id":157634,"date":"2026-08-03T13:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=157634"},"modified":"2026-08-03T13:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:03:24","slug":"nemo-debet-esse-judex-in-propria-causa-nobody-can-be-a-judge-in-his-own-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/08\/03\/nemo-debet-esse-judex-in-propria-causa-nobody-can-be-a-judge-in-his-own-case\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201dNEMO DEBET ESSE JUDEX IN PROPRIA CAUSA.\u201d\u00a0 (Nobody can be a judge in his own case.)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarath Wijesinghe PC., Solicitor of the U.K., Former Ambassador to the U.A.E. and Israel and The President, Ambassadors Forum U.K. and Sri Lanka.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

BAR ASSOCIATION OF SRI LANKA AND THE RECENT RESOLUTION UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED ON THE EXTENTION OF THE JUDICIARY BY TWO YEAR<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka is the professional body of all lawyers in Sri Lanka with Honorable objectives that includes protect the Constitution, Human Rights, Encourage Rule of Law, independence of the Judiciary amongst many other objects included. The Constitution of Bar Association which was set up as  a continuation of the age-olden Law Society established during colonial rule and continued as an amalgamated profession as attorneys at law. Any lawyer enrolled as an Attorney- at Law is entitled to be a member of the association, however, a membership fee has to be paid and other requirements are to be completed to obtain the membership of the professional body. BASL in shorten form is a powerful body including judges, members of the executive legislature and judiciary and leading lawyers living world over continue to be members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent meeting of all lawyers in Sri Lanka with regard to the extension of the period of judges with a constitutional amendment has united all the lawyers to meet and express their views at the Head Office with all the branch organizations connected online.  From the membership of 26,000 lawyers countrywide about 6,000 were physically present or communicated via online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision of the lawyers is loud, clear and was unanimous. They opposed to the said proposal in a emphatic and significant manner, who have not taken part to this magnitude before. The decision taken by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka amongst opposing the proposed amendment is to canvas the issue at the Supreme Court which gives rise to a academic and constitutional complication. There is a legal principal \u2018<\/strong>Nemo debet esse judex in propria causa<\/strong>\u2018where it is stated one could \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff<\/strong> not be the judge of his own case. Therefore, it is a very unusual situation in the Supreme Court whether the judges could or will allow the case before them in which the ultimate goal of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka is seeking a constitutional referendum on the matter. At the same time as matters appear, apparently the Executive is determined to go through the process despite facing a referendum against the wishes of Bar Association of Sri Lanka membership, judges\u2019 professional body and many for the reason that this will amount to bribery and corruption undermining the independence of the judiciary. We invite you to browse the net for articles by this write on this issue, Laws Delays, Legal Education, Independence of the Judiciary which are easily accessible by the name of the topic and or the name of the author. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This complexity of the facts will indicate in turn the complexity of issues and concerns of the Bar Association as to why this amendment is to be legalized in the hurry. The allegations against some senior lawyers are that they are planning another stunt adopted by Late President J.R.Jayawardene to extend the period of the government by a referendum, thereby the country was made a pool of blood by two JVP insurrections and a war that was prolonged for three decades due to denial of justice to the people on due date. The defense and explanation of the executive and minister of justice is that the amendments are for the purpose of law delays which is incorrect. We invite readers once again to refer to the  article as stated above on Laws Delays which deal with those delays in detail which proves main reason is not due to judges\u2019 delays. There are many reasons due to the inefficiency of the governance, malpractices of justice and the institution connected to the legal system. These affect institutions that helps the process freely and hamper the proper judicial system. It appears everything is complicated and it does not seem that there is no solution and the Governance and the Minister of Justice are incapable of handling the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, we are of the view that no drastic changes are necessary currently and to allow \u2018sleeping lions sleep\u2019. It is advisable to maintain the status- quo awaiting a proper consultation with the judiciary, lawyers.  Executive and other organizations including international organizations who are concerned in SL and it\u2019s judicial system which is currently in some form of maturity. We urge the governance, the proponents of the changes for a cooling period to discuss matters in a better atmosphere considering there is no urgent need unless the government has motives to keep the current judges for two more years for reasons the lawyers allege. The judiciary is considerably qualified and of high standard. There is no need to extend the period by two years because the junior  judges are equally able, competent qualified and exposed to the world in their best energetic age. The age alone is not a criteria for ability, efficiency and far thinking. Current young lawyers are exposed to the world via internet and are excellent junior lawyers. The elderly senior judges could be lethargic as the they are not expose to modern changes in the legal system. There is some valid reason in what the proponent say on seniority as in many countries such USA elderly senior judges are allowed to remain and continue in the system if they wish to. But the Sri Lankan system is different. We have limited resources. There are law delays in other countries which they look for quick solutions in their own way. We have to device our own methods and if the extension of the period of judges is definitely is not the solution, and thereby unnecessary unless the Executive has ulterior motives to keep Senior Judges including the Chief Justice in position, for certain ulterior purposes. Therefore, we urge the executive to think of the nation, the people and not maintaining presidential power at any cost.  We request him not to take short cuts to continue be in power and to maintain the status-quo that we have been enjoying so far as a Democratic Nation, enjoying Democracy in South Asis, including judicial freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sarath Wijesinghe PC., Solicitor of the U.K., Former Ambassador to the U.A.E. and Israel and The President, Ambassadors Forum U.K. and Sri Lanka. BAR ASSOCIATION OF SRI LANKA AND THE RECENT RESOLUTION UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED ON THE EXTENTION OF THE JUDICIARY BY TWO YEAR The Bar Association of Sri Lanka is the professional body of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sarath-wijesinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157636,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157634\/revisions\/157636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}