Rule-of-law Lineages in Colonial and Early Post-colonial Burma

Bibliographic Data

ID3607962
AuthorsNick Cheesman (0000-0003-4224-7709, Australian National University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume50
Issue2
Pages564-601
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x14000468
OpenAlexW2219404935
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited84

These days the rule of law is often invoked in Burma. Although its contemporary salience is partly a consequence of recent global trends, the rule of law also has lineages in the country's colonial and early post-colonial periods. To examine these lineages, this article distinguishes between its procedural and substantive conceptions. Whereas the latter conception recognizes the subjects of law as freely associating equals, the former is compatible with a range of political practices, including those that are undemocratic. The records of decisions in criminal cases before Burma's superior courts during the period of British domination suggest that some semblance of procedural rule of law did exist, and that it was compatible with the rule of colonial difference. Out of this procedural rule of law a nascent, substantive type emerged during the early years of democratic life in the post-colony, before the onset of military dictatorship. The article concludes that more effort to structure interpretations of the rule of law in history might better enable discussion about the concept's continued relevance

Colonial rule · Colonialism · Democracy · Dictatorship · Political science · Politics · Relevance (law · Rule of law · Salience (neuroscience · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Asian Studies and History · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Psychology

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