Laws of Bangladesh

What is Law?

Laws of Bangladesh is involved in the lives of people. It governs the conduct of people from cradle to the grave and the influence of law in one’s life even extends from before birth to even after death. In this society, there is a complex body or set of rules which are made to control the activities of members of the society.
The law is a set of rules that are laid down to regulate the government of the state and control the relationship between the state and its citizens and also to govern the relationship between one citizen and another which is enforceable by the courts.
The law is usually made by the government of a country, which is used to order the way in which society has to behave. In Bangladesh, different laws are available for different situations.

Characteristics of Laws of Bangladesh:-

If we analyse the above definitions very carefully we can reach at a conclusion that law is a body of rules recognised and maintained by the state to regulate human behaviour and conduct in a society. A law will present the following characteristics-
1. It is a set of rules;
2. It regulates human conduct;
3. It is created and maintained by the state;
4. It has a certain amount of stability, fixity and uniformity;
5. It is backed by coercive authority;
6. Its violation leads to punishment;

7. It is the expression of the will of the people and is generally written down to give it definiteness;
8. It is related to the concept of ‘sovereignty’ which is the most important element of the State.

Classifications of Laws of Bangladesh:-

Law may be classified in various different ways but the most important classifications are as follows:

1. Public Law and Private Law
2. Criminal Law and Civil Law
3. Substantive Law and Procedural Law
4. Domestic Law and International Law
5. Written Law and Unwritten Law

1.Public Law and PrivateLaw:

Public law is the law that is concerned with the relationship between the citizens and the state.
On the other hand, private law is the law that is predominantly concerned with the rights and liabilities of individuals towards each other. The involvement of the states in this area of law is restricted to providing a proper method of resolving the dispute which has arisen. Therefore, the legal process gets started by the citizen who is aggrieved and not by the state.

2.Criminal law and Civil law:

Criminal law is the law that is connected with the act of forbidding particular forms of wrongful conduct and imposing punishment on those who engage in such acts.
On the other hand, civil law deals with the private rights and duties which arise between individuals in a country. The object of civil law is to correct the wrongdoing that has been committed. Enforcement of civil law is the accountability of the individual who has committed the wrong and the state is responsible to provide for the procedure to resolve the dispute.

3.Substantive and Procedural Law:

The law which defines rights and liabilities is known as substantive law. Substantive law, with regard to a specific subject, defines the legal rights and relationship of people between themselves or between them and the State. Substantive law refers to all forms of law both, public and private including the law of contracts, property, torts and crimes of all kinds.
The law of procedure is that branch of law that deals with the process of litigation. It embodies the rules and procedures pertaining to the institution and prosecution of any kind of civil or criminal proceeding. Procedural law consists of a set of rules by which a court hears cases and decides the proceedings. The Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure are instances of procedural law.

4.Domestic Law and International Law:

Domestic law is that branch of law that springs from and has an effect on the members of a particular state. An example of domestic law is the Constitution of Bangladesh that applies only in Bangladesh.
On the other hand, International law is the law that governs laws between different countries. It regulates the relationship between various independent countries and is usually governed by treaties, international customs and so on. Examples of International law include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights etc.

5.Written and Unwritten Law:

A law would not be regarded as written just because it is written down in a document. Written laws are those laws that have been validly enacted by the legislature of a country.
Unwritten laws, on the other hand, are those laws that are not enacted by the legislature. They include both customary and case law. Customary Law as part of its basic characteristic is generally unwritten. Case law, though written down in a documentary format, would be regarded as unwritten law based on the fact that it is not enacted by the legislature.

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Laws of Bangladesh Sources

There are many sources of law. Some of the main sources of law are described below:

1.Customs:

The rules and regulations that are prevalent in society for a long time are called customs. With the change of time, the different customs get the status of law.

2.Religion:

Each religion has its own set of rules and regulation which helps people to be a good human. In past when there was no organized institution of law, the religion played its role. Religion was followed and whoever violated it suffered punishment according to their religion. From religion, the religious dictates and the religious books some laws originated. The Hindu laws, the Muslim laws etc. are the best example.

3.Judicial Decisions:

In many cases, judgment cannot be made with the prevalent laws. The existing laws fall short to settle the case. The judges then, with their intelligence and wisdom, give an interpretation of the prevalent ambiguous law to settle the matters. Thus new laws are created and later these laws are taken as a precedent in similar cases. These laws are called the judge-made laws.

4. Legislature:

In modern time the legislature is the most important source of law. The legislature creates new laws according to the needs of the state.

5. Delegated Legislation:

Due to less time, fewer people with professional skills and quick need of laws to exercise, the state gave rise to the delegation of legislation. The state got an emergency to make laws as quickly as possible as it cannot rely on one specific legislation. So the power to make law was divided into different executives for the easy, fast and smooth lawmaking process. Now it serves as a giant source of law.

6. Equity:

This basically means acting fairly and serving justice to all. In some exceptional cases, not all laws are suitable. So the judge has to use his intelligence and act with keeping in mind what is fair for whom. Equity serves as a painkiller to those who are suffering and might be in future gain popularity and formulate laws on the basis of equity.
Bangladesh Code
One of the primary assumptions of all legal systems is that citizens ought to have access to laws. Publication of laws in the Bangladesh Gazette is the first step to make available to people that a particular law has been enacted.
Further, Section 6 of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision and Declaration) Act 1973 provides that “All Acts of Parliament, Ordinances and President’s Order in force in Bangladesh shall be printed in chronological order under the name and style of the Bangladesh Code”.
The Bangladesh Code, therefore, seeks to present in handy volumes, the amended, adapted and authentic version of all enacted laws in force in Bangladesh. These laws include enactments that have been inherited from the past dating back from 1799 onward promulgated by various authorities according to competence under the Constitution in force at the relevant time.
The Bangladesh Code published in 2007 consisted of 38 volumes. The current publication of the Bangladesh Code is presented in 42 volumes, which includes updating and codifying of laws from 1799 to 30th June 2014.
As a result of updating task, Bangladesh Code published earlier in 2007 in 38 volumes has been relocated which is now comprising of 42 volumes. The enactments included in the Bangladesh Code have been arranged in chronological order and footnotes have been added to indicate amendments made therein by subsequent legislation. In order to reduce the number of footnotes, general footnotes have been used wherever appropriate.

Constitution as the supreme laws of Bangladesh:-

Article 7(2) of the Constitution provides that-
‘This Constitution is, as the solemn expression of the will of the people, the supreme law of the Republic, and if any other law is inconsistent with this Constitution that other law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void.’
In case of constitutional supremacy, the Constitution is supreme over the parliament and the parliament can exercise its functions being only within the bounds of the Constitution. The entire legislative, executive and judicial activities of the state are guided and regulated within the limit of the Constitution.

Writer: Law for Nations. Email: lawfornations.abm@gmail.com, website: www.lawfornations.com, Mobile: 01842459590.