Constitution of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Constitution of 1978
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාව, romanized: Śrī Laṅkā āndukrama vyavasthāva, Tamil: இலங்கைச் சனநாயக சோசலிசக் குடியரசின் அரசமைப்பு, romanized: Ilaṅkaic caṉanāyaka cōcalicak kuṭiyaraciṉ aracamaippu) 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 October 2022 it has been formally amended 21 times.
It is Sri Lanka's second republican constitution, replacing the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972, its third constitution since the country gained independence within the British Commonwealth as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948, and its fourth constitution overall.
Former constitutions of Sri Lanka
Donoughmore Constitution
Soulbury Constitution
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, 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 five 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 propagation of Parliament on 23 May 1959. A similar attempt by the Dudley Senanayake Government failed due to such a propagation on 22 June 1968 too.
The public source identifies “Constitution of Sri Lanka” as sri Lankan Constitution of 1978. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Constitution, Lanka and Lankan.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2679022. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1978, 2022, 1972 and 1948.
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