Thesawalamaan Law Analysis

Legislation: This refers to the preparation and enactment of laws passed by parliament through the law making process. The process includes evaluating, amending and voting on a proposed law and is concerned with the words used in the proposal to accurately communicate the values, judgments and purposes of the proposal. Before an item of legislation becomes law, it may be known as a ‘bill’ and will be broadly referred to as legislation while it remains under consideration. Once it has been passed by parliament, it then becomes an ‘Act’ or ‘Statute’.
The constitution is the most important legislation, as it deals with the three main organs of the state, namely the parliament, executive and the judiciary. Legislations may have multiple purposes to regulate, authorize,
Likewise Muslim Law applies to Muslims as their personal law.
Thesawalamai is a customary law which is both territorial and personal in character. The territorial aspect of the Thesawalamai law applies to all immovable property (land and buildings) in the Jaffna province - regardless of the ethnicity and religion of the owners. Under the territorial laws, any land and property in the Jaffna Province owned by Buddhists, Sinhalese or Muslims, would also come under the Thesawalamai laws although the owners are not Jaffna Tamils.
The Personal Law is applicable to Tamils who have an inhabitancy in the Northern Province. In order to decide inhabitancy, the courts will determine the mental and physical elements of a person who is claiming rights under Thesawalamai. Therefore, the mere fact that a person is of Jaffna Tamil parentage thought relevant, is not conclusive.
In addition, persons subject to any of these personal laws are governed in other respects by the Roman Dutch Law, which is the Common Law of the