Constitution of Sri Lanka

The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka has been the constitution of the island nation of Sri Lanka since its original promulgation by the National State Assembly on 7 September 1978. As of May 2015^[update] it has been formally amended 19 times.

It is Sri Lanka's second republican constitution, replacing the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972, and its third constitution since the country received autonomy within the British Commonwealth as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.

Under the Soulbury Constitution which consisted of The Ceylon Independence Act, 1947 and The Ceylon (Constitution and Independence) Orders in Council 1947, Sri Lanka was then known as Ceylon. The Soulbury Constitution provided a parliamentary form of Government for Ceylon and for a Judicial Service Commission and a Public Service Commission. Minority rights were safeguarded by Article 29(2) of the Constitution.. The Governor-General (The Representative of the Monarch of Ceylon who was also the Monarch of the United Kingdom ), the Senate and the House of Representatives exercised legislative power. The House of Representatives consisted of 101 Members, of which 95 were elected by universal suffrage and 6 were nominated by the Governor-General. That total number was increased to 151 by the 1959 Delimitation Commission and the term of the House was 5 years The S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike Government set up a Joint Select Committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives to consider a revision of the Constitution on 10 January 1958 but the Committee was unable to come to a final conclusion on account of the propegation of Parliament on 23 May 1959. A similar attempt by the Dudley Senanayake Government was failed due to such a propegation on 22 June 1968 too. The Senate consisted of 30 Members (elected 15 by the House and 15 by the Governor -General) was abolished on 2 October 1971.

...
Wikipedia