The High Court in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

is the only

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

which exercises the jurisdiction of the

court of first instance A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

and the

appellate jurisdiction A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

with both civil and criminal jurisdiction. Article 111 of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

and section 4 of the

Judicature Act Judicature Act is a term which was used in the United Kingdom for legislation which related to the Supreme Court of Judicature. List United Kingdom :The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c.66) :The Supreme Court of Judicature Ac ...

, No. 2 of 1978 as amended by Act, No. 16 -1989 describes that The High Court must consist of not less than ten and not more than forty

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s. Article 154P of the Constitution provides for the establishment of the Provincial High Courts to which judges are nominated by the Chief Justice from among Judges of the High Court of Sri Lanka

Appointment and removal of Judges

According to the Article 111 of the Constitution as amended by the 17th Amendment - Judges of the High Court are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the ''Judicial Service Commission'' made after consultation with the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and removable by the President and are subject to disciplinary control by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. Age of retirement of the Judges of the High Court is 61 years ection 6(3) of the Judicature Act, No. 2 of 1978

Judicial powers

The High Courts exercise both the

Criminal jurisdiction Criminal jurisdiction is a term used in constitutional law and public law to describe the power of courts to hear a case brought by a State (polity), state accusing a defendant of the commission of a crime. It is relevant in three distinct situati ...

and the

Commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

jurisdiction (through Commercial High Courts). It can conduct a

trial by jury A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significant ...

or ''trial at

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

'' and impose any sentence or penalty prescribed by

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. Under the 13th amendment to the constitution it has the appellate and re-visionary jurisdiction by way of the Provincial High Court.
The Provincial High Court has been vested with appellate and re-visionary jurisdiction in respect of orders and judgments of the ''Magistrates Court'', ''Primary Courts'', Labour

Tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

s, Agrarian Services Commissioners Tribunals within the province.

The High Court of Civil Appeal

The High Court of

Civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

Appeal has been established with the objective of expediting the civil appeals from District Courts.

High Court And The Provincial High Court

High Court cases can be heard in the presence of a Judge of the High Court or a Jury. The High Court take

cognizance Cognizance may refer to: * Cognizance IIT Roorkee, an annual technical festival held at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee * Cognizance, a heraldic badge, emblem, or device formerly worn by retainers of a royal or noble house * Cognizance (l ...

of cases to be heard on submission of

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

s submitted by the Attorney General.

The Commercial High Court

The Commercial High Court was originally established under the High Court of the Provinces Act of 1996. It has jurisdiction to hear civil actions where the cause of action has arisen out of commercial transactions in which the

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

demand In economics, demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are willing and able to purchase at various prices during a given time. The relationship between price and quantity demand is also called the demand curve. Demand for a specific item ...

exceeds twenty

Million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

Sri Lankan Rupees (LKR).

Admiralty court

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

jurisdiction is exercised by the High Court held at Colombo, having had the jurisdiction transferred to it from the Supreme Court under the provisions of the ''Judicature Act No.2 of 1978''.

Special High Court

In 2018, under the ''Judicature (Amendment) Act, No. 9 of 2018'' previsions were made for the establishment of permanent Special High Courts to hear large-scale financial crimes, bribery and corruption cases. Such courts will be made up of three High Court Judges appointed by the Chief Justice to conduct cases as a Trial-at-Bar. The first Special High Court was established on 21 August 2018 at the Hulftsdorf court complex, while the second was established in the same location in September.Establishment of second Special High Court gazetted
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List of High Courts

* Special High Court, Hulftsdorf * Special High Court, Hulftsdorf * High Court Ambilipitiya * High Court Ampara * High Court Anuradhapura * High Court Avissawella * High Court Badulla * High Court Balapitiya * High Court Batticaloa * High Court Chilaw * High Court Colombo * High Court Galle * High Court Gampaha * High Court Hambantota * High Court Homagama * High Court Jaffna * High Court Kalmunai * High Court Kandy * High Court Kalutara * High Court Kegalle * High Court Kurunegala * High Court Mannar * High Court Matara * High Court Negombo * High Court Panadura * High Court Polonnaruwa * High Court Puttalam * High Court Ratnapura * High Court Tangalle * High Court Trincomalee * High Court Vavuniya * High Court Welikada

References

{{Law of Sri Lanka, state=collapsed Courts of Sri Lanka