I · EDITORIAL

38 pieces · updated regularly

Volume

Edition 2026

Notices, commentary, & selected writing.

An editorial front door for firm updates, public mentions, and writing on litigation, dispute readiness, and the legal questions that matter.

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II · FEATURED

Sri Lanka's Investor Visa: The Thresholds, and Where the Rest of It Lives

Featured · Corporate & Investment

Lead piece

Sri Lanka's Investor Visa: The Thresholds, and Where the Rest of It Lives

Two tiers and a fee are in the regulations. The bank accounts, the qualifying investments, the sector limits and the continuing conditions are not — they sit in a departmental guideline and in foreign exchange regulations made elsewhere, and any of them can stop an application that satisfies the amount.

Samantha J Peiris · 12 min readRead

Legal Heritage

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and the Office of Chief Justice

The court and the office were made in the same instrument, by royal charter, in 1801. What followed was thirty years of patching, a Benthamite reformer who wanted one system of courts for the whole island, and a charter in 1833 that largely got it. The structure a Sri Lankan lawyer works in today is recognisably the one that charter built.

11 min read

Legal System

The Attorney-General of Sri Lanka: Adviser and Prosecutor in One Office

Sri Lanka gives one office two jobs that most common-law countries keep apart: advising the State on the law, and deciding who is put on trial. England splits them, India never joined them, the United States fused them politically, and Singapore did what Sri Lanka did. The choice shapes how a case against the State is run.

12 min read

III · ARCHIVE

Recent writing & notices.

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01Legal System

Roman-Dutch Law in Sri Lanka: The Dutch Courts and What They Left

The Dutch East India Company built courts in Ceylon to find out who owned the land. The system it left behind outlived the Company, outlived the Netherlands it came from, and is still the residuary law of Sri Lanka. This is what the Dutch built, what the British kept, and which questions it decides today.

14 min read

02Legal System

The 1972 Constitution: What Autochthony Cost

The 1972 Constitution was the first Sri Lanka wrote for itself, and the demand behind it was legitimate. What it built on that foundation was a legislature that could not be checked by a court, rights that yielded to an ordinary majority, and the quiet removal of the one clause the minorities had relied on.

11 min read

03Legal Heritage

Hulftsdorp: How a Dutch Siege Camp Became the Legal Quarter

Every attorney in Colombo works on a hill named after a Dutch commander who never lived to see it fall. Gerard Hulft was shot from the walls of Portuguese Colombo in November 1655 and died five months later. The camp his men kept outside the walls is now where the country's courts sit.

9 min read

04Legal System

Contempt of Court in Sri Lanka: What the 2024 Act Changed

Sri Lanka codified its contempt law for the first time in 2024. The Act says what contempt is, who may punish it and how it is tried. It does not say what it will cost you, and that omission is deliberate enough to be worth understanding.

12 min read

05Litigation

Instructing Sri Lankan Counsel From Abroad: Powers, Proxies and What the Court Needs

A foreign firm instructing in Sri Lanka has two separate instruments to get right, and they are governed by different statutes. One puts a lawyer on the record. The other lets someone act in the client's name outside court. Confusing them is the most common way a cross-border instruction stalls.

11 min read

06Litigation

Recovering a Commercial Debt in Sri Lanka: What Changed for Cheques in 2025

Chasing an unpaid invoice or a bounced cheque in Sri Lanka now runs through more than one statute, and one of them changed materially in August 2025. A dedicated offence for a dishonoured cheque now sits in the Bills of Exchange Ordinance itself, with fixed notice periods and a defined penalty, alongside the civil and summary routes a creditor has always had.

10 min read

07Private Client

Wills, Succession and Dying With Assets in Sri Lanka

A will made in England or Australia can carry Sri Lankan land. Section 5 of the Wills Ordinance says so. But three other rules decide whether an estate is actually distributed the way the testator intended, and two of them changed in 2022.

12 min read

08Employment

Employing Staff in Sri Lanka: What a Foreign Employer Must Know

You cannot dismiss an employee in Sri Lanka at will, on notice, or by paying in lieu. Section 2 of the [Termination of Employment of Workmen Act](/blog/terminating-employment-in-sri-lanka-tewa-explained) requires the workman's written consent or the Commissioner's written approval, and the Commissioner's decision cannot be challenged in any court.

10 min read

09Criminal Law

The Dock Statement: Speaking From the Dock Without Being Cross-Examined

An accused in Sri Lanka can address the court from the dock without taking the oath and without facing cross-examination. It is a real forensic choice with real consequences, and the courts have spent decades working out what weight such a statement carries. Here is what they have decided.

9 min read

10Dispute Resolution

The Mediation Act: You May No Longer Be Able to Sue First

The Mediation (Civil and Commercial Disputes) Act No. 13 of 2026 does something a mediation statute rarely does. Where the parties agreed to mediate, section 5 stops a court entertaining the case at all until a certificate of non-settlement is produced. Here is what that means for commercial contracts and for litigation strategy.

10 min read

11Litigation

Partition Actions in Sri Lanka: How Co-Owned Land Is Divided

Land held in undivided shares is the ordinary result of inheritance in Sri Lanka, and a partition action is how it gets resolved. The decree binds everyone, including people who were never served. Here is how the action runs under the Partition Law, and what the 2024 amendment changed.

11 min read

12Dispute Resolution

Enforcing a Foreign Judgment in Sri Lanka Under the 2024 Act

The Reciprocal Recognition, Registration and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act No. 49 of 2024 repealed the two colonial-era Ordinances and replaced them with a single registration regime. Whether it helps you turns almost entirely on one question: has the Minister listed the country your judgment came from?

9 min read

13Criminal Law

The Proceeds of Crime Act: Why an Acquittal No Longer Protects the Property

The Proceeds of Crime Act No. 5 of 2025 lets the State forfeit property without convicting anyone. The proceedings are civil, they run against the property itself, the standard is the balance of probabilities, and they survive an acquittal. Here is how the Act works and where the pressure points are.

11 min read

14Criminal Law

Plea Agreements in Sri Lanka: What the 2024 Amendment Introduced

The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act No. 50 of 2024 introduced written plea agreements to Sri Lankan criminal procedure for the first time. It applies in both the Magistrate's Court and the High Court, and it reaches bribery and corruption prosecutions. Here is how the procedure works and where its hard edges are.

10 min read

15Criminal Law

Bail in Sri Lanka: When a Court Can Refuse It

The Bail Act No. 30 of 1997 starts from the position that bail is the rule and refusal the exception. That principle has limits written into the same Act. Here are the grounds a court can rely on to refuse bail, who can grant it in the most serious cases, and how long a person can be held before trial.

9 min read

16Intellectual Property

Registering a Trademark in Sri Lanka: What the Intellectual Property Act Requires

In Sri Lanka the exclusive right to a mark comes from registration, not from years of trading under a name. Here is what the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003 requires, how an application moves through the office, and how a registration can be lost.

8 min read

17Regulatory & Compliance

Sri Lanka's Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022: What Businesses Must Prepare For

Sri Lanka's first comprehensive data protection law is closely modelled on the EU's GDPR, and it reaches overseas businesses too. Here is what the Personal Data Protection Act requires and how organisations should prepare.

7 min read

18Regulatory & Compliance

Sri Lanka's Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023: What Businesses Need to Know

The Anti-Corruption Act No. 9 of 2023 pulled Sri Lanka's bribery and corruption laws into a single statute and reaches private-sector bribery for the first time. Unexplained wealth and influence-peddling were already offences under the Bribery Act. A section-by-section guide to the offences, the penalties, the Commission's powers and what to do if you are served with a notice.

9 min read

19Criminal Law

Arrest and Bail in Sri Lanka: What Happens After You Are Taken Into Custody

Being arrested is frightening, and knowing what the law actually requires can make a real difference in the first hours. This is how arrest and bail work in Sri Lanka, and what your rights are along the way.

6 min read

20Legal Heritage

Sri Lankan Leaders Who Were Lawyers: Presidents and Prime Ministers Called to the Bar

Four of Sri Lanka's ten Presidents and two further Prime Ministers held a legal qualification before taking office. This article sets out who was admitted, where they trained, and how lawyers shaped the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions.

9 min read

21Legal Heritage

The Oldest Law Firms in Sri Lanka: A Timeline of the Profession

Sri Lanka's legal profession runs from the Dutch courts through the divided Bar of advocates and proctors to a single roll of Attorneys-at-Law. This survey traces that history and the firms founded along the way, from F. J. & G. de Saram in 1841 onwards.

9 min read

22Criminal Law

Drug Offences in Sri Lanka: Possession, Trafficking and the Penalties

Sri Lanka treats drug offences with exceptional severity, and the gap between simple possession and trafficking can be the gap between rehabilitation and a sentence of death. Here is how the law and its quantity thresholds are structured.

7 min read

23Legal System

How Sri Lanka's Court System Works: A Guide to the Courts

Which court hears your case, what can be appealed, and to whom? A plain-English guide to the structure of Sri Lanka's courts, from the Primary Court up to the Supreme Court.

9 min read

24Know Your Rights

Your Rights If the Police Stop, Search or Question You in Sri Lanka

Do the police have to tell you why they are stopping you? Do you have to answer their questions? Knowing your rights during a police encounter in Sri Lanka helps you stay calm and avoid making a difficult situation worse.

6 min read

25Know Your Rights

What to Do in the First 24 Hours After an Arrest in Sri Lanka

The hours immediately after an arrest are often the most important in a criminal case. A practical guide to the arresting officer's duties, the 24-hour rule, police bail, statements to the police, remand, and what a family on the outside should do.

9 min read

26Private Client

Your Apostille Is Not Enough: Signing Documents Abroad for Use in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so the certificate that makes a document travel between Sydney, Singapore and London does nothing in Colombo. Here is what works instead, and the five-year limit and registration deadlines the 2022 and 2024 amendments quietly attached to every power of attorney.

10 min read

27Litigation

Enforcing a Commonwealth Judgment in Sri Lanka: The 2025 Reciprocity Order

Since the Act came into operation on 26 March 2025, a money judgment from the courts of 53 countries drawn from the Commonwealth, Australia, Singapore and the United Kingdom among them, can be registered in the District Court of Colombo and enforced as if it were Sri Lankan. Here is how the route works for the foreign judgment creditor, and where it can be attacked.

9 min read

28Dispute Resolution

A SIAC Award Against a Sri Lankan Counterparty: Security First, Enforcement After

Singapore is where Asian contracts arbitrate; Sri Lanka is where many of the counterparties, and their ships and assets, actually are. The award is the easy part. What decides whether it turns into money is what was secured before the tribunal ever ruled.

8 min read

29Litigation

The Small Claims Court in Sri Lanka: What It Hears, and Where You Can Actually Use It

Sri Lanka created a Small Claims Court for money disputes up to Rs 2 million, a figure almost every published account still gets wrong. Two further things decide whether it is any use to you: whether a Mediation Board has to see the dispute first, and whether a court has opened near you.

11 min read

30Maritime & Trade

Arresting a Ship in Sri Lanka: A Practical Guide to Admiralty Jurisdiction

Colombo is one of South Asia's busiest transshipment ports. When a maritime claim goes unpaid, arresting the vessel itself can be the most effective way to secure it, and an arbitration clause elsewhere is no answer to it. Here is how the action in rem, the warrant of arrest and release against security work under the Admiralty Jurisdiction Act No. 40 of 1983, and what the courts have decided.

13 min read

31Dispute Resolution

Enforcing a Foreign Arbitral Award in Sri Lanka

A favourable arbitration award is only worth as much as the ability to enforce it. Part VII of the Arbitration Act No. 11 of 1995 and Sri Lanka's unreserved ratification of the New York Convention make the island a fairly predictable place to turn an award into recovery.

9 min read

32Corporate & Investment

Setting Up a Company in Sri Lanka: A Guide for Foreign Investors

Incorporating a Sri Lankan company is faster than many investors expect. The harder decisions are the choice of vehicle, the shareholding structure, and whether to route the investment through the Board of Investment. Where the venture needs land, the restrictions on [buying property as a foreigner](/blog/buying-property-in-sri-lanka-as-a-foreigner) shape the structure as much as the company law does.

6 min read

33Real Estate

Buying Property in Sri Lanka as a Foreigner: What the Law Allows

Foreign nationals cannot take freehold title to land in Sri Lanka. The law does leave several workable routes open, and condominium units, 99-year leases and locally controlled companies each have their place.

9 min read

34Employment

Terminating Employment in Sri Lanka: The TEWA Framework Explained

Sri Lanka's termination regime is among the more protective in the region. For many employers, ending a non-disciplinary employment relationship needs either the worker's written consent or the prior approval of the Commissioner General of Labour. Where a payment is due on termination, the [gratuity, EPF and ETF calculator](/gratuity-calculator) works it out under the Payment of Gratuity Act No. 12 of 1983.

11 min read

35Litigation

Litigation Readiness for Sri Lankan Businesses: Preparing Before a Dispute Escalates

The decisions that decide a commercial dispute are often made before proceedings begin. Knowing the Prescription Ordinance time limits, keeping the records the Companies Act requires and preserving electronic evidence can settle the outcome long before the first hearing.

9 min read