19世紀ビルマの英国植民地化過程における伝統法体系の変容に関する一考察(<特集>19世紀ビルマの英国植民地化過程と社会変容)

Abstract

This brief study attempts to outline the process of change of the Burmese traditional legal system through the impact of British law during the period from the first Anglo-Burmese war (1824-1826) to the end of the century. It focuses particularly on the extent to which the rules concerning marriage, divorce and inheritance in the Dhammathat law texts, which traditionally were the main source of law, were accepted in the Anglo-Burmese courts. This discussion concludes with the historical sequence in which the introduction of the English legal system into India and the wholesale transplantation of Indian codes, statutes and regulations into Burma considerably disturbed the Burmese idea of law. Such thoughtless disturbance resulted in the fact that British colonial law had not been fully accepted in Burma by the time of the British withdrawal in 1948.