ASEAN Law Resources: Myanmar

A. Legislature

Hluttaws
Information about the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw which is made up of two houses (more info about the national-level bicameral legislature in Wikipedia):

• Amyotha Hluttaw
  Information about the House of Nationalities (more information by the Inter-Parliamentary Union)
• Pyithu Hluttaw 
  Information about the House of Representatives (more information by the Inter-Parliamentary Union)

Website also provides access to state and regional hluttaws. Information published on the Myanmar National Portal.

B. Laws

Burma Code
Individual PDFs of the codes published on AsianLII (1839 to 1951)

Burma/Myanmar Laws, Decrees and Regulations by Date
Full texts of laws are made available via the Online Burma/Myanmar Library. The earlier codes are in English but later laws are in Burmese.

Myanmar Law Information System
Access to Union laws, region or state laws and subordinate legislation. Website developed by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Myanmar Law Library: Laws and Regulations 
Myanmar laws published in PDF. Website maintained by MLR Company Limited.

C. Treaties

IHL Databases: Treaties and States Parties - Myanmar
International humanitarian treaties to which Myanmar is a party. Published by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

International Investment Agreements Navigator: Myanmar
Investment agreements that Myanmar is a party to.

Myanmar Law Information System: Treaties
Full texts of treaties to which Myanmar is a party. Website developed by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Myanmar Law Library: International Law
Listings of selected treaties where Myanmar is a party or signatory.

Constitutional Tribunal of the Union
Decisions and submissions of the Tribunal (2011 -)

Judiciary (CACJ)
Overview of the judicial system and the courts by the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices.

Myanmar Law Information System: Judgments
Full texts of judgments from the Office of the Supreme Court of the Union. In Burmese.

Myanmar Law Library: Case Law
Website managed by the MLR Company Limited. Cases from the various courts and law reporters:

• Selected Judgements of Lower Burma (1872-92)
• Printed Judgements of Lower Burma (1893 - 1900)
• Lower Burma Rulings of the Chief Court, Rangoon (1900-22)
• Upper Burma Rulings (1892 - 1922)
• Burma Law Times (1907-20)
• Indian Law Reports Rangoon Series (1923-37)
• Burma Law Journal (1922-27)
• All India Reporter, Rangoon (1923-37)
• Rangoon Law Reports (1937 - 1942 ; 1946-47)
• Burma Law Reports (1948-88)
• Myanmar Law Reports (1989 -)

The Supreme Court of the Union 
Information on the court system and judgments of commercial cases (2018-20). More judgments are available in an alternative website. In Burmese.

A. Open access journals

Judicial Journal
Journal published by the Supreme Court of the Union. Text in English and Burmese. Only Vol 3, No. 3 and  Vol 3, No. 9 are available in full text on the website.

LawKa PaLa: Legal Journal on Burma (previously Legal Issues on Burma Journal)
The journal contains academic articles written by practising lawyers and academics, and relate to legal and political issues in Burma including constitutional reform, rule of law, federalism, refugees, judicial independence, martial law, and religious freedom (1997-2011). Published in the Online Burma/Myanmar Library.

Myanmar Law Library: Legal Journal
Publications include the Judicial Journal, Burma Gazetter and Reports on the Administration of British Burma. Website managed by the MLR Company Limited.

B. Reports and papers

CALS Working Paper Series
Papers published by researchers at the Centre for Asian Legal Studies, NUS Faculty of Law:

• Constitutional Change in Myanmar: Process v Substance by Andrew Harding
• An introduction to the Law and Judicial System of Myanmar by Kham Nang Yin
• Theories of Law and Development: Asian Trajectories and the Salience of Judicial Reform in Myanmar by Andrew Harding.

Freedom of Religion,the Role of the State, and Interreligious Relations in Myanmar
Report by Nyi Nyi Kyaw published in 2018 for the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and Equitas, International Centre for Human Rights Education.

Moving Forward to the Rule of Law: Strategic Plan 2015-2019
Published by the Union Attorney General's Office (2015).

Handbook on Habeas Corpus in Myanmar
Published by the International Commission of Jurists in 2016.

The Law of Contract in Myanmar
This book by Adrian Briggs and Andrew Burrows is the culmination of one of the major projects of the Oxford-Burma/Myanmar Law Programme. Published in February 2017 with the help of Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oxford University Law Faculty.

Myanmar's Transition : Openings, Obstacles and Opportunities
Book edited by Nick Cheesman, Monique Skidmore and Trevor Wilson. Published in 2012 by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute and made available on Project Muse.

Private International Law in Myanmar
Book by Adrian Briggs to identify, state, and explain the rules of private international law which form that part of the law of Myanmar. Published in 2015 with the help of Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oxford University Law Faculty.

This section features a selection of the more current books on law in Myanmar. Unless otherwise stated, books are located in the Law Library.

For more books, search the library catalogue, LINC: