The Doctrine of Reception of Law and its Significance in Legal Development of Bangladesh

Abstract

Legal transplantation is the process of how laws and legal institutions actually develop and progress in a given country. The past few decades have shown an upward trend in the volume of legal transplantation. For most of the time and in almost all places, borrowing has become a reliable source of legal change. Borrowing comes in many forms. It may be from within a system, by means of analogy, negligence in torts, negligence in contracts, or from another legal system. Borrowing may be perceived as a complex entity. Receptions come in the form of taking over single rules to sometimes a whole system. Despite the limited literature present about the process of legal transplantation, most of it presumes that the efficacy of the law is the determining and dominant factor in identifying which laws has been transplanted and from one place to another. This paper aims to look into the legal transplantation theories specific to the experience of Bangladesh. The article begins with an examination on the colonial experiences then progresses to the present practices and how the processes and policies have created effects on the rule of law of the country. This is also done in line with the acknowledgement of the legal origins thesis which the British did the transplantation of the common law to its colonial territories that discussed the receipt of such in societies as necessary and adequate institutional tools that promote the succeeding achievements of a strong development. The methodology employed includes the ramifications of real experiences that take into consideration the historical, social, and cultural contexts.

Keywords: Legal Transplantation, Doctrine of Reception, Common Law System, Colonial Experience, Bangladesh