Law of Myanmar

The legal system of Myanmar reflects British colonial common law layered over older Burmese legal tradition. Much of the judiciary still operates under British era law without guarantees of fair public trial, and the judiciary is not independent of the executive branch; the Supreme Court sits at the top of the system alongside a Constitutional Tribunal for constitutional questions. Two historical texts mark the older tradition: the Wareru dhammathat, described as the earliest law book in Burma and based on laws attributed to the ancient Indian sage Manu, and the Dhammazedi pyatton, rulings of Mon King Dhammazedi recorded in the Kalyani stone inscriptions.