Abstract:
Every particular group of community in human society has a
unique system of social custom which is wrought and operated for the initial
purpose of maintaining moral governance over that particular community
within the social parameters demarcated by the inherent social norms and
values of that community. However, certain locally operated social customs
have been empowered with the legal authority particularly by the judiciary
through recognizing its legal validity as one of the sources of law by which
determined the rights and duties of the members of a particular community.
This legal experience is not outlandish to Sri Lankan legal system and
consequently, certain local customs which satisfy the required criteria under
the Sri Lankan jurisdiction have been acknowledged as customs that
engender legally enforceable rights and duties among the members of a
particular community. Therefore, there is a strong potential of utilizing
certain local customs prevailing in war affected areas as a legitimate tool for
resolving community disputes emergent in the post war context notably,
including land and property matters and perhaps even family matters as well.
Using such local customs as one of the sources of law by which community
disputes are determined, is of vital social-legal significance since they able to
provide legal solutions which accustomed with the typical life style of the
members of the war affected communities. Furthermore, employing local
customs in this scenario would not prevent those communities from lining
with emerging concurrent social advancement since a progressive judicial
approach sensible to the evolving social developments can be evidenced in
Sri Lankan legal system on this topic, while signifying the contemporary
thoughts of right based approach therein. Being so, the paper is concluding
with emphasising the legal potential and social significance of using local
customs prevailing in the war-torn areas in resolving community disputes
emerging in the post war scenario at least for a certain extent since they have
been given slight legal and social consideration in the attempts of outfitting
specific legal regulations to determine community disputes.
