Courts and jurisdiction.
Which court can hear what, and where an appeal goes. Each court is described only once the provision that creates it has been checked against the official text.
An explanation, not the law — only the official text has legal force, and where the Sinhala, Tamil and English texts differ, the Sinhala text prevails. Why this matters →
Articles 3 and 4, where “the judicial power of the People” is set out, are on the Executive page.
The courts
The diagram follows the path an appeal takes, left to right, ending at the court that decides it last. Below it, the courts are listed highest first. A court appears here once its creating provision has been checked.
No court is described yet
The courts below are waiting for their creating provisions to be checked against the official text.
Waiting for verification
Nothing is said about these courts until the provision that creates each one has been checked.
Decisions recorded
Changes proposed to this page that it declines, with the words of the Articles relied on.
Sources that disagree
Where two sources gave different answers, both are shown with how the question was settled, or that it is not yet settled.
Judges
Not independently verified Each name and date is transcribed from the source cited beside it. That is not an independent check, and appointments change. Report a wrong name or date →
| Name | Role | Court | Appointed | Checked | Source |
|---|
No judge is listed yet.
Penalties
The verbatim provision governs. This is not legal advice. Only the provision quoted with each entry has legal force. Penalties vary by statute, by amendment and by the court’s sentencing discretion, so a maximum shown here is not the sentence any case will receive. Nothing on this page is legal advice; for any legal matter, consult a qualified attorney-at-law. Report an error →
| Offence | Provision | Maximum, as the provision states it | Tried in | Checked | The provision |
|---|
No penalty is listed yet.