Sri Lankan legislation
The legislation collection spans ordinances and Acts, together with Gazette material such as regulations, orders, proclamations and notifications. These sources help you investigate both an enactment and instruments made under it.
Follow the relationships between provisions, amendments and connected enactments to develop a fuller research trail.
Sri Lankan case law and law reports
The case-law collection brings historical reporting and contemporary decisions into the same research context. The source catalogue includes:
- Historical reports: New Law Reports, Ceylon Law Reports, the Digest of Supreme Court Decisions, Wendt’s Supreme Court Reports and Browne’s Reports.
- Later report series: Sri Lanka Law Reports, Supreme Court Law Reports and Court of Appeal Law Reports.
- Superior-court material: Supreme Court and Court of Appeal decisions across constitutional, appellate, writ, civil and criminal matters.
For a particular report, year or decision, ask the team about coverage.
Commonwealth authorities
Comparative materials include authorities from the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These jurisdictions connect with different aspects of Sri Lanka’s legal history and practice.
Use overseas decisions in their proper context. The relationship between the legal systems, the issue under consideration and the treatment of an authority in Sri Lanka all matter. South African sources may be particularly relevant to research into the shared Roman-Dutch tradition; other questions may lead elsewhere.
Textbooks and commentary
Textbooks and commentary help explain principles, locate authorities and place decisions within a wider discussion. Read alongside legislation and judgments, they offer another route into a research question.
For a particular title or edition, contact the team about availability.
Check the coverage you need
This is an overview of source categories. Coverage varies by collection and date; it is not an exhaustive inventory or a guarantee of immediate updates.
For a particular source or a possible omission, contact the Lex team with the title or citation. Before relying on a source, check its relevant version, later treatment and application to your matter.
See How it works for a research sequence. Lex Archive, the document-storage offering, is described separately in Lex Suite.