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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

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NICK CHEESMAN*
Affiliation:
Department of Political and Social Change, Australian National University, Australia Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 50 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 564 - 601
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*

Thank you to Craig Reynolds and Terry Halliday for their comments on versions of this article, as well as to Bronwen Douglas, and to colleagues in the Pacific and Asian History seminar series at the Australian National University, for questions and suggestions in response to a talk on this topic. Special thanks to Saowapha Viravong and all the staff at the National Library of Australia, and to Thant Thaw Kaung and Ma Win Win at the Myanmar Book Centre, for their help in finding and acquiring materials on which the article draws. Lastly, thank you to the article's anonymous reviewers for their thorough comments, which gave me the opportunity to rethink arguments, re-examine sources, and explore new material with which to clarify and amplify its contents.

References

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47 Brigadier General George White cited in Myint-U, Thant (2001). The Making of Modern Burma, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p. 196CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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50 Postema, G. J. (1986). Bentham and the Common Law Tradition, Clarendon, Oxford, p. 424Google Scholar. Stephen enthused that ‘no obscurity or ambiguity worth speaking of’ had been discovered in the Penal Code. Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of England, p. 303.

51 Bentham had proposed that he could write legislation for India just as well as he could for his own parish. Pitts, ‘Jeremy Bentham’, p. 69.

52 Hussain, The Jurisprudence of Emergency, p. 65.

53 Nonet, P. and Selznick, P. (2001). Law and Society in Transition: Toward Responsive Law, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick and London, p. 35Google Scholar.

54 Massoud, Law's Fragile State, p. 59.

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57 King-Emperor v. Nga Po Min, 10 Ran. 511 FB.

58 King-Emperor v. Nga Po, 5 LBR 72.

59 E. E. Mayeth v. King-Emperor, 3 Ran. 612; Abdul Rahman v. King-Emperor, 5 Ran. 53 PC.

60 Nga Po Gaung v. King-Emperor, (1897–1901) 1 UBR 96.

61 Nga Po Tein v. King-Emperor, (1910–13) UBR 149.

62 U Ba Thein & Another v. King-Emperor, 8 Ran. 372.

63 Ba Yin v. King-Emperor, 7 Ran. 759.

64 Mohamed Hayet Mulla v. King-Emperor, 7 Ran. 370.

65 Maung Pu v. Maung Chit Pyu, 5 Ran. 129.

66 Nga Hla U v. King-Emperor, 3 Ran. 139; K. M. Subbaya Naidu v. King-Emperor, 7 Ran. 470.

67 Maung Thwe v. King-Emperor, 3 Ran. 74.

68 Nga Po Chon v. King-Emperor, 4 Ran. 356; Nga U Khine & Others v. King-Emperor, 13 Ran. 1; King-Emperor v. Nga Lun Thuong, 13 Ran. 570 FB.

69 Nga Thet U v. King-Emperor, 2 LBR 115.

70 Hnin Yin (King-Emperor) v. Than Pe, 9 LBR 92.

71 Nga Po Thet v. Queen-Empress, 1 LBR 29; Tha Hmu v. King-Emperor, 2 LBR 206.

72 Shwe Bwin v. King-Emperor, 2 LBR 270.

73 King-Emperor v. Nga Khaing & One, 6 Ran. 531.

74 Tambi v. Appalsawmy (King-Emperor), 9 LBR 208.

75 King-Emperor v. Channing Arnold, 6 LBR 129 FB.

76 King-Emperor v. Kyan Baw, 2 LBR 239.

77 Nga Po Shein & Two Others v. King-Emperor, (1910–13) UBR 152.

78 Nga San Myin v. King-Emperor, (1910–13) UBR 123.

79 H. M. Eusoof & Abdul Khudus v. King-Emperor, 11 LBR 73.

80 King-Emperor v. Po Thin Gyi, 7 Ran. 96.

81 King-Emperor v. Myat Aung, 4 LBR 135.

82 King-Emperor v. Ramara, 4 LBR 103.

83 King-Emperor v. Taik Pyu & Nga Thaik, 5 LBR 21.

84 King-Emperor v. Po Thin, 7 LBR 62.

85 Mohamed Ismail v. King-Emperor, 13 Ran. 754.

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87 Nga Shwe Ywe v. Crown, 1 LBR 71, 75. See also Crown v. Nga Nyein, 1 LBR 90.

88 Nga Po Nyun v. King-Emperor, 2 LBR 76, 79.

89 Nga Po Than v. King-Emperor, 3 Ran. 156. Despite such warnings, one retired official estimated that in the 1910s and early 1920s some 10,000 people in the delta alone had been jailed for failure to pay bonds. Brown, R. G. (1926). Burma as I Saw It, 1889–1917, Methuen, London, pp. 84–85. On the abuse of police powers in the delta, see Saha, J. (2013). Law, Disorder and the Colonial State: Corruption in Burma, c. 1900, Palgrave Macmillan, London, Chapters 1–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

90 Crown v. Majun & 12 Others, 1 LBR 120.

91 King-Emperor v. Po Gyi, 3 LBR 114, 115–116.

92 Po Hla v. King-Emperor, 8 LBR 357.

93 Kha Hlaw & Poo Sa v. King-Emperor, 4 LBR 116.

94 King-Emperor v. Po Ni & Others, 3 LBR 116.

95 Crown v. Nga Kyauk Lon, 1 LBR 75.

96 King-Emperor v. Maung Cho & Others, 2 LBR 43. But illegal items uncovered in an improper search could still be used to frame a charge. Maung San Myin v. King-Emperor, 7 Ran. 771; Chwa Hum Htive & Another v. King-Emperor, 11 Ran. 107.

97 Saha, Law, Disorder and the Colonial State, pp. 3–5.

98 Mi Hauk v. King-Emperor, 4 LBR 121, 122.

99 Ah Shee & 22 Others v. King-Emperor, 3 LBR 229, 231, followed in King-Emperor v. Kwe Haw & 16 Others, 4 LBR 213 FB. Kwe Haw was later overturned in Ti Ya & Six Others v. King-Emperor, 8 LBR 38 FB.

100 Queen-Empress v. Nga Lu Gyi & 7 Others, 1 LBR 49, 50.

101 Nga Po Hmi v. Queen-Empress, (1897–1901) 1 UBR 29.

102 Tan Sein (a) Maung Saing v. Crown, 1 LBR 173.

103 V. S. M. Moideen Brothers v. Eng Thaung & Co., 9 LBR 45, 47.

104 Mawzanagyi v. King-Emperor, 8 Ran. 511.

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107 A survey of precolonial law in Burma is beyond the scope of this article. For an overview, see Huxley, A. (2001). ‘Pre-Colonial Burmese Law: Conical Hat and Shoulder Bag’, IIAS Newsletter Online, 25: http://www.iias.nl/iiasn, [accessed 30 April 2015]. On precolonial legal texts and their interpretation, see Lammerts, D. C. (2013). Narratives of Buddhist Legislation: Textual Authority and Legal Heterodoxy in 17th–19th Century Burma, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 44:1, pp. 118–144CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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109 Deposition to the Burma Reforms Committee (1922), cited in Maung Maung (1963). Law and Custom in Burma and the Burmese Family, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, p. 24.

110 Harvey, G. E. (1946). British Rule in Burma, 1824–1942, Faber and Faber, London, p. 34Google Scholar.

111 Ocko and Gilmartin, State, Sovereignty, and the People, p. 69. See also Mukherjee, India in the Shadows of Empire, pp. 110–113.

112 See Aung-Thwin, M. (2011). The Return of the Galon King: History, Law, and Rebellion in Colonial Burma, Ohio University Press, Athens, OhioGoogle Scholar.

113 See, for instance, the accounts of cases in Collis, M. (1953). Trials in Burma, Faber and Faber, London, Chapters 4, 7Google Scholar.

114 Thompson, Whigs and Hunters, p. 263.

115 Raz, ‘The Rule of Law and Its Virtue’, p. 211.

116 Pettit, P. (1997). Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 65, 174–177Google Scholar. See also Bingham, T. (2010). The Rule of Law, Penguin Books, London, pp. 66–67Google Scholar.

117 See, for instance, Darian-Smith, E. (2010). Religion, Race, Rights: Landmarks in the History of Modern Anglo-American Law, Hart, Oxford and PortlandGoogle Scholar; Kolsky, Colonial Justice in British India; Levine, P. (2003). Prostitution, Race, and Politics: Policing Venereal Disease in the British Empire, Routledge, New York and LondonGoogle Scholar; Saha, Law, Disorder and the Colonial State, Chapter 3; Wiener, M. J. (2009). An Empire on Trial: Race, Murder, and Justice under British Rule, 1870–1935, Cambridge University Press, CambridgeGoogle Scholar; and, for an early classic, Arendt, H. (1966). The Origins of Totalitarianism, George Allen and Unwin, London, pp. 158–221Google Scholar.

118 Kolsky, E. (2010). ‘The Body Evidencing the Crime’: Rape on Trial in Colonial India, 1860–1947, Gender and History, 22:1, p. 116CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

119 Published, since the case appeared in the Burma Law Journal of the same year, and in Herbert Dunkley's 1928 digest of rulings, but not officially reported.

120 Queen-Empress v. Nga Han Shin, (1892–96) 1 UBR 50; King-Emperor v. Po Ba, 8 LBR 143; King-Emperor v. Mi Wa, 8 LBR 534; G. C. Siricar v. King-Emperor, 3 Ran. 68.

121 Nga Aung Dwe v. Queen-Empress, (1892–96) 1 UBR 229; Queen-Empress v. Nga Chit Kyu, (1897–1901) 1 UBR 325.

122 King-Emperor v. Nga Po Saw, (1897–1901) 1 UBR 328; Nga Ku & Two v. Queen-Empress, (1897–1901) 1 UBR 330; Crown v. Nga San Hlaing, 1 LBR 205; Crown v. Nga Chan Mya, 1 LBR 297; King-Emperor v. Nga Nge, (1904–06) 1 UBR Pen Co. 17; Nga Shwe Thwe v. King-Emperor, (1907–09) 1 UBR Pen. Co. 1; Nga Te Hla v. King-Emperor, (1907–09) 1 UBR Pen. Co. 11; King-Emperor v. Asgar Ali, (1907–09) 1 UBR Pen. Co. 27; Khalilur Rahman v. King-Emperor, 11 Ran. 213; and King-Emperor v. Nga Ni Ta, (1902–03) 1 UBR Pen. Co. 15, which describes a girl as being ‘persuaded’ into ‘a condition of concubinage’ (at the age of 16).

123 Kolsky, Colonial Justice in British India, pp. 199–202. Neill, J. (2011). ‘This Is a Most Disgusting Case’: Imperial Policy, Class and Gender in the ‘Rangoon Outrage’ of 1899, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 12:1; http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_colonialism_and_colonial_historyCrossRefGoogle Scholar, [accessed 20 June 2015].

124 As discussed in Saha, J. (2010). The Male State: Colonialism, Corruption and Rape Investigations in the Irrawaddy Delta c. 1900, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 47:3, pp. 343–376CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

125 King-Emperor v. Po Gyi, 3 LBR 114.

126 Nga Po Tha & Two v. King-Emperor, (1917–20) UBR 54.

127 Nga Po Kyaw & Three v. King-Emperor, (1902–03) 1 UBR Pen. Co. 1, 2.

128 Nga Po Thaw v. King-Emperor, (1910–13) UBR 155.

129 Nga Po Thaw, 155.

130 Saha, Law, Disorder and the Colonial State, pp. 117–118.

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133 Nga Po Thaw, 155–156.

134 Kolsky, E. (2005). Codification and the Rule of Colonial Difference: Criminal Procedure in British India, Law and History Review, 23:3, pp. 631–683CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See Chatterjee, P. (1993). The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp. 16–18Google Scholar.

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136 Geertsema, J., ‘Exceptions, Bare Life and Colonialism’, in Ramraj, Emergencies and the Limits of Legality, pp. 354–356.

137 Chatterjee says that it was, but, like other scholars of British empire, is imprecise about the rule of law's ontology. Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments, p. 22.

138 On the classing of the two as ‘reservations’ to the rule of law, see Halliday and Karpik, ‘Political Liberalism in the British Post-Colony’, pp. 4, 12–13.

139 Agamben, G. (2005). State of Exception, Chicago University Press, Chicago, pp. 23, 31Google Scholar.

140 On the nationalist struggle for independence in Burma, see, in particular, Moscotti, A. D. (1974). British Policy and the Nationalist Movement in Burma, 1917–1937, University Press of Hawai‘i, HonoluluGoogle Scholar.

141 See, for instance, San, Aung (1971). General Aung San: Speeches, 1945–1947, Sarpay Beikman Press, Rangoon, p. 83Google Scholar; Thakin E Kyi, cited in Maung, Chit (1939?). The Taste of Prison, Journal Kyaw, Rangoon, p. 81 (both in Burmese)Google Scholar. On the use of emergency measures in Burma, see Aung-Thwin, M., ‘Discourses of Emergency in Colonial and Postcolonial Burma’, in Ramraj, V. V. and Thiruvengadam, A. K. (2010). Emergency Powers in Asia: Exploring the Limits of Legality, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 187–212Google Scholar.

142 The Union of Burma (Continued Observance of Laws) Order, 1948, and the Union Judiciary Act, 1948, gave effect to pre-existing laws.

143 Lev, D. S., ‘The Criminal Regime: Criminal Process in Indonesia’, in Rafael, V. L. (1999). Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Colonial Vietnam, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, p. 178Google Scholar.

144 Tinsa Maw Naing v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon, 1950 BLR (SC) 17, 25. From 1948, the law reports became known as the Burma Law Reports (BLR). Citations hereafter refer to rulings from the High Court (HC), and the Supreme Court (SC), which became the court of final appeal. For a summary of the changing structure and nomenclature of Burma's upper courts, see Myint Zan, A Comparison of the First and Fiftieth Year of Independent Burma's Law Reports, pp. 386–387. A chart of courts and rulings is available in Maung, U Than (2002). A Background History of Myanmar Rulings, Judicial Journal, 1:13, p. 54Google Scholar (article in Burmese; chart mostly in English). For details of the heads of apex courts and their nomenclature since 1947, see Myint Zan, ‘The “New” Supreme Court and Constitutional Tribunal: Marginal Improvement for Judicial Independence or More of the Same?’, in Cheesman, N., Skidmore, M. and Wilson, T. (2012). Myanmar's Transition: Openings, Obstacles and Opportunities, ISEAS, Singapore, pp. 256–257CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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146 U Htwe (a) A. E. Madari v. U Tun Ohn & One, 1948 BLR (SC) 541, 552.

147 Callahan, M. P. (2003). Making Enemies: War and State Building in Burma, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, p. 135Google Scholar.

148 Maung Maung (1969). Burma and General Ne Win, Religious Affairs Department, Rangoon, pp. 209–210Google Scholar.

149 U Hla Aung (1961). The Law of Preventive Detention in Burma, Journal of the International Commission of Jurists, 3:1, p. 47Google Scholar.

150 Saw Maung Dauk cited in Tekkathoe Myat Thu (2012). Parliamentary Sights, Sarpay Beikman Press, Yangon, p. 51 (in Burmese)Google Scholar.

151 Art. 25(1), Constitution of the Union of Burma, 1947.

152 Zan, Myint (2000). Judicial Independence in Burma: Constitutional History, Actual Practice and Future Prospects, Southern Cross University Law Review, 4, pp. 22–24Google Scholar. Tinker, The Union of Burma, p. 29.

153 U Htwe, 560–561. Both Ba U and E Maung were members of the constitution-drafting committee. Maung Maung, Burma's Constitution, Appendix V. Maung Maung's monograph, while offering a comprehensive summation of the constitution's contents, contains only a short section on its drafting. For a more detailed account of the constitutional drafting process and participants, see Win, U Kyaw, Han, U Mya and Hlaing, U Thein (1990). National Race Affairs and the 1947 Constitution, 2 vols, Universities PressGoogle Scholar, Yangon, Vol. 2, Chapters 8–10 (in Burmese).

154 V. E. Rm. N. Rm. Kasi Viswanathan Chettyar v. Official Assignee & One, 1958 BLR (SC) 74.

155 Cheesman, N., ‘The Incongruous Return of Habeas Corpus to Myanmar’, in Cheesman, N., Skidmore, M. and Wilson, T. (2010). Ruling Myanmar: From Cyclone Nargis to National Elections, ISEAS, Singapore, p. 95CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Crouch, M., ‘The Common Law and Constitutional Writs: Prospects for Accountability in Myanmar’, in Crouch and Lindsey, Law, Society and Transition in Myanmar, pp. 141–157.

156 Bo San Lin v. Commissioner of Police & One, 1948 BLR (SC) 372.

157 Maung Maung, Burma's Constitution, p. 99.

158 Ma Lone v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 8, 9.

159 Tinker, The Union of Burma, p. 142.

160 Hansard (1954). Chamber of Deputies, Union Parliament, Government of the Union of Burma, Rangoon, Vol. 3, pp. 104–109 (in Burmese).

161 Lim Lyan Hwat (a) Lim Sway Gaung/Lim Kwin Kee (a) Htwa Kong (a) Htwa Tong v. The Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs & One/ The Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs & One, 1960 BLR (SC) 128, 129.

162 As discussed in Christian, W. (1951). Burma's New Constitution and Supreme Court, Tulane Law Review, 26:1, pp. 49–56.

163 Daw Aye Nyunt v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 5, 7.

164 Pakiya Ammal v. Deputy Commissioner, Hanthawaddy & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 35.

165 Ma Mya Khin v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1950 BLR (SC) 8.

166 Ma Khin Than v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 13, 17.

167 Ma Than Sint v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 1.

168 Ma Ahmar v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 39.

169 Bo Aye Ko v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & 2 Others, 1950 BLR (SC) 181.

170 U Zan v. Deputy Commissioner, Insein & Another, 1951 BLR (SC) 188; Thet Tun v. Deputy Commissioner, Shwebo & Another, 1952 BLR (SC) 33.

171 Ah Nywe v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & Another, 1948 BLR (SC) 737, 740.

172 Lee Kyin Su (a) U Su v. Commissioner of Excise & 3 Others, 1957 BLR (SC) 5, 9.

173 Maung Ant Bwe & One v. Union of Burma, 1948 BLR (HC) 863; Union of Burma v. Ah Shin & 2 Others, 1955 BLR (HC) 317; U Ba Aye & 3 Others v. Union of Burma, 1958 BLR (HC) 548; Bishu (a) Ma Kyin Nu v. Union of Burma, 1953 BLR (HC) 110 (in Burmese).

174 Hasan Ali v. Secretary, Ministry of Immigration & National Registration & One, 1959 BLR (SC) 187.

175 Sri Sawarmal v. Union of Burma (U Thein Maung), 1954 BLR (HC) 331.

176 Courts General Letter No. 4/1956, Supreme Court, Rangoon, 20 January 1956 (in Burmese).

177 Maung Kyaw Aye v. Union of Burma, 1953 BLR (HC) 114.

178 B. K. Halder v. S. Kr. Chelliah Pillay & Others, 1952 BLR (HC) 340.

179 T. S. Mohamed & One v. Union of Burma, 1953 BLR (HC) 107.

180 U Ba Din v. Union of Burma, 1956 BLR (HC) 166.

181 Khaw Taw & One v. Union of Burma, 1948 BLR (HC) 310; Maung Aye Maung v. Union of Burma, 1956 BLR (HC) 273.

182 Sobika Rahman v. Union of Burma, 1952 BLR (HC) 385.

183 Ali Meah v. Union of Burma, 1954 BLR (SC) 65.

184 U Ba Khin v. Union of Burma, 1954 BLR (HC) 191.

185 Maung Nyi & One v. Union of Burma, 1952 BLR (HC) 282.

186 Only in 1957–58 did the government initiate inquiries, and bring one group of paramilitaries to court after a particularly notorious and gruesome episode, discussed in Callahan, M. P., ‘The Sinking Schooner: Murder and the State in Independent Burma, 1948–58’, in Trocki, C. A. (1998). Gangsters, Democracy, and the State in Southeast Asia, Cornell Southeast Asia Program, New York, pp. 17–38Google Scholar. The case was reported as Chit Hlaing, Htun Waing, Thein Aung & 19 v. Union of Burma, 1958 BLR (HC) 582 (in Burmese and English).

187 Maung Hla Gyaw v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1948 BLR (SC) 764. On the charges brought against the alleged plotters and their subsequent sentences, see Maung Maung (1962). A Trial in Burma: The Assassination of Aung San, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.

188 Daw Mya Tin v. Commissioner of Police, Rangoon & One, 1949 BLR (SC) 82.

189 U Ba Yi & 8 Others v. Officer-in-Charge of Jail, Yamethin, 1950 BLR (SC) 130.

190 Maung Kyaw Aye & 6 v. Taunggoo District Commissioner & Another, 1957 BLR (SC) 49 (in Burmese).

191 Maung Tin Aye v. District Commissioner, Pakokku & One, 1957 BLR (SC) 17 (in Burmese).

192 Maung Maung (1962). Lawyers and Legal Education in Burma, Journal of International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 11:1, p. 285.

193 For a discussion of events, see Badgley, J. H. (1958). Burma's Political Crisis, Pacific Affairs, 31:4, pp. 336–351CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

194 U Nu (1975). U Nu: Saturday's Son, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, p. 327; Callahan, M. P. (1996). ‘The Origins of Military Rule in Burma’, PhD thesis, Cornell University, New York, pp. 476–477.

195 Revolutionary Council (1965). Burma: Administrative and Social Affairs, 1962–63, Office of the Director of Information, Rangoon, p. 34 (in Burmese).

196 Government of the Union of Burma (1960). Is Trust Vindicated?, Director of Information, Rangoon, p. 62.

197 See, for instance, Editor, ‘Parliamentary Democracy’, The Guardian, 6 October 1959; U Hla Aung (1960). A Republic and the Rule of Law, Burma Law Institute Journal, 2:1, p. 2; U Tin, ‘The Rule of Law’, The Guardian, 1–2 June 1960, pp. 31–32.

198 Lay, Ko Ko (1960). What Is Cocos Island, Khin Maung Yi and Sons Press, Rangoon, p. 39–43Google Scholar; Maung Chit Yi (1960). Section Five from Cocos Island, U Saw Lwin, Rangoon, p. 132 (both in Burmese).

199 U Nu (1959). Address Given by AFPFL (Clean) Chairman U Nu at the 69th May Day Celebration, News and Information Department, AFPFL (Clean), pp. 10–20 (in Burmese).

200 Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 21/58, section 2.

201 Government of the Union of Burma (1959). Excerpts from the Record of the Convention of Security Councils Held at the Armed Forces Convocation Hall, Rangoon on 21, 22, and 23 April 1959, Government Printing and Stationery, Rangoon, p. 53 (in Burmese).

202 See Bigelow, L. S. (1960). The 1960 Election in Burma, Far Eastern Survey, 29:5, pp. 70–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Butwell, R. and Von der Mehden, F. (1960). The 1960 Election in Burma, Pacific Affairs, 33:2, pp. 144–157CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

203 Yoe Bun Hwei (a) Kek Nek Hwei La v. Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of the Union of Burma & Others, 1960 BLR (SC) 175; Lim Hkwei Ya (a) Yaun Ei v. Minister of Home Affairs, 1960 BLR (SC) 189 (both in Burmese).

204 Lim Lyan Hwat, 132.

205 Mahmud, T. (1993). Praetorianism and Common Law in Post-Colonial Settings: Judicial Responses to Constitutional Breakdowns in Pakistan, Utah Law Review, 4, pp. 1234–1242Google Scholar; Newberg, P. R. (1995). Judging the State: Courts and Constitutional Politics in Pakistan, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 57–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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207 Zan, Myint (1995). U Myint Thein M.A., LLB, LLD, Australian Law Journal, 69, p. 226Google Scholar.

208 Upham, F. K., ‘The Illusory Promise of the Rule of Law’, in A. Sajó (2004). Human Rights with Modesty: The Problem of Universalism, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden and Boston, p. 280. See also Darian-Smith, E. (2008). Precedents of Injustice: Thinking About History in Law and Society Scholarship, Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, 41, p. 62Google Scholar.

209 Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977, Harvester Press, Hertfordshire, p. 136Google Scholar.

210 Roque and Wagner, ‘Introduction’, pp. 7, 9.

211 Roque and Wagner, ‘Introduction’, p. 14.

212 As discussed in Cheesman, What Does the Rule of Law Have to Do with Democratisation (in Myanmar)?