On 30 March 2011 a “new” Burmese government was sworn in. A seven-member Supreme Court and nine-member Constitutional Tribunal are among the new organs of state formed under the 2008 Constitution that “came into operation” with the new government. This chapter addresses the issue of whether, under the new government, there has been some improvement in relation to the Burmese judiciary, or whether the situation is much the same as before (that is, during the period from September 1988 until March 2011).

The term “new” is used for both the Supreme Court and for the Constitutional Tribunal. In Burma there have been various “Supreme Courts”, or apex courts, since independence. To put these “new” developments into perspective, therefore, it is necessary to give a brief history of the apex courts over the period since independence, if only to explain the use of the term “new”. As for the Constitutional Tribunal, it is indeed a new organ of state, since a similar political or legal institution has not previously existed in contemporary Burmese legal history.The first part of this chapter deals with the “new” Supreme Court, the second part with the new Constitutional Tribunal.

The “New” Supreme Court, with Flashbacks to Former Courts

The Supreme Court formed under Burma's 1947 Constitution, which lasted from 4 January 1948 to 31 March 1962, was Burma's first Supreme Court. From April 1962 a new apex court came into operation, initially with the name of “Chief Court” in English, but in the late 1960s its name was changed back to “Supreme Court”. This second apex court lasted from 1 April 1962 to 4 March 1974, when the Council of People's Justices was formed. Soon thereafter the Central Court of Justice (third apex court) was formed. (Both were established under the 1974 Constitution, which had been proclaimed as adopted by the then Revolutionary Council on 3 January 1974.) Like its predecessor, the first Supreme Court, the Central Court of Justice came to an end by military decree, on 18 September 1988 (see Table 14.1).